A Kildare farmer has won his Supreme Court bid to stop the IDA compulsorily purchasing land owned by his family for more than a century.
Thomas Reid, whose farm adjoins the Intel site in Leixlip, had sued the IDA and the State after the IDA notified him of its intention to acquire the land.
Five Supreme Court judges unanimously overturned the High Court's decision and ruled the compulsory purchase could not go ahead.
The court heard that the 72-acre farm at Blakestown in Co Kildare has been in the Reid family since 1904.
It is next to Intel's Information and Communications Technology facility and also next to the Carton House Estate.
The IDA notified Mr Reid and his mother in December 2011 that it wanted to acquire the lands.
In the Supreme Court's decision, Mr Justice Liam McKechnie said the IDA had never denied that it had no particular industrial undertaking in mind for the lands.
He said the authority was trying to create a land bank and added that the law did not give any power to the IDA to acquire lands not required for immediate use.
The court also ruled the IDA could not be satisfied the criteria laid down in the legislation for acquiring lands had been met because it had not established who the ultimate user of the land would be.
He also ruled that the fact that the then chairman of the IDA Liam O'Mahony was also a director of a company which acted as consultants to the IDA, and produced a report on land options in the area for the IDA, could give rise to a perception of bias even though there was no allegation of actual bias.
The judge said the IDA was the only body involved from beginning to end with the process of acquiring land and added that those decision-making processes should be separated.
Afterwards, Mr Reid said the news had not sunk in, but it was a good day for Ireland.
