New documents in Kenny land dispute

The High Court has been told that legal representatives of broadcaster Pat Kenny have been given details of 717 new documents by lawyers representing Gerard Charlton.

Mr Charlton is taking an action against Mr Kenny and his wife, seeking control of a small piece of land in Dalkey, south Dublin.

The ownership of the land, which is close to the Charlton and Kenny homes, is disputed.

The move follows a High Court judgment last week, which found Mr Charlton had failed to properly disclose details of all the relevant documents to Mr Kenny's legal team in advance of a full hearing about the ownership issue.

The Kennys had applied to have the proceedings struck out because of that failure, but the judge refused to do this because he said it did not seem the failure was deliberate.

This morning, in a brief hearing before Mr Justice Frank Clarke, counsel for the Kennys said that since last week's judgment, four separate sworn and unsworn affidavits have been sent by Mr Charlton's legal team to the Kennys.

These list details of some 717 new documents, which the Kennys' legal team had not been aware of. He said 1,023 documents had previously been disclosed. The new documents, he said, threw up a number of issues. But he did not say what they were.

Counsel for Mr Charlton, Brian Murray SC, said most of the documents were covered by the privilege of client lawyer confidentiality. He said he was unaware of the nature of the issues that were being referred to by counsel for the Kennys.

Mr Justice Frank Clarke adjourned proceedings until 2pm to allow the two legal teams to discuss the nature of the issues. The hearing was also adjourned so that the lead counsels for both sides, who were at other hearings this morning, can attend.