Neville Presho, 61, a film-maker from Holywood in Co Down, claimed the house had been demolished and used as a car park by an adjacent hotel.
Mr Presho bought the house on Tory in 1982, but he boarded it up a few years later and went to New Zealand. When he came back in 1994, the house was gone.
He brought a High Court action earlier this year against the Ostán Thoraigh Comhlacht Teoranta and its owner Patrick Doohan for trespass and damage.
The court ruled in July that he was entitled to a new house or its equivalent market value.
There was a dispute over the valuation and Mr Presho's lawyers estimated the house had been worth €60,000.
Lawyers for Mr Doohan said his valuers had advanced a figure between €11,000 and €12,000.
Mr Justice Roderick Murphy ruled this morning that Mr Presho should get €46,000.
Afterwards, Mr Presho said he thought he should have received much more and said €46,000 'would build a good chicken coop'.
