A High Court judge has made an award of costs for six days to the plaintiff in a controversial case involving a walking group in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow.
Niall Lenoach and Noel Barry, who are chairman and secretary respectively of a local walking association, had attempted to prove that there was a public right of way on Mr Walker’s property.
However, they lost the case, with Mr Justice John McMenamin ruling that the route in question is not a public right of way.
The judge ruled that the defendants in today’s case relating to costs will be entitled to the costs of the interim and interlocutory motions pre-trial. There will be a set-off of the defendants’ costs against the plaintiffs.
Giving his ruling, Mr Justice McMenamin criticised both parties and said he did not see evidence of much common sense in this dispute from either party.
“On the scale of things, I am afraid the defendants showed much less common sense in pursuing a case which would be pursued by political action rather than through the courts,” the judge said.
The High Court case had lasted a total of 11 days.
