The High Court has heard that broadcaster Pat Kenny is seeking damages for trespass, nuisance, assault and battery in a dispute over land with a neighbour.
Details of Mr Kenny's counter claim emerged on the second day of a High Court action by his neighbours Gerard and Maeve Charlton to establish ownership of a piece of land beside their homes in Dalkey known as Gorse Hill.
Gerard and Maeve Charlton are seeking a declaration from the High Court that they are the rightful owners of Gorse Hill, which could be worth up to €2m.
The court heard the Charltons were oblivious to the Kennys' attempts to take possession of the land, which they claim is an amenity area used by them since buying their home in 1971.
Pat Kenny had erected a gate on the land in 2002 and Mr Charlton claims to have repeatedly asked him for the code to this gate. He also claims that over the years Mr Kenny asked him to sell the land to him.
The broadcaster denies this and today the High Court heard how the Kennys had fenced off the land and used it as nature reserve. They had pruned trees, installed lighting and erected bird boxes.
Mr Kenny denies that the land was used by the Charltons or anyone else without their express permission. He will also accuse Mr Charlton of acting in an aggressive manner during an altercation in 2006.
Mr Kenny will ask the court to award damages for trespass, nuisance, assault battery arising from this altercation when he claims the gate was slammed on his hand. He will also claim damages for interference with his constitutional property rights and his right to privacy.
The Charltons' claim
Earlier, the High Court was told by the Charltons' legal representatives that the Charltons own the title to the land.
(The Kennys claim they have acquired the land by way of adverse possession or squatters' rights.)
Eoghan Fitzsimons, SC for the Charltons, read from a deed of assignment to the Charltons dated 1971.
Under this deed, he said, the Charltons were assigned the title to their house, to Gorse Hill and to a sliver of land giving access to Gorse Hill.
He said when Pat Kenny bought his house in 1988, he knew there was no question of the title to Gorse Hill being assigned to him.
It also emerged in court today that the Kennys acquired a leasehold interest in Gorse Hill as recently as June 2007.
This was after the Charltons believed they had bought out the entire leasehold interest in the lands.
Outlining the law relating to adverse possession, Eoghan Fitzsimons said for adverse possession to be claimed the true owner of the land must have relinquished possession of it and this must be accompanied by the actual and continuous possession by a person who has no legal interest in the land.
He said an objective and reasonable person would have to be able to say that the Charltons had abandoned the land in the true sense and that the Kennys were in actual possession of it.
He said Mr and Mrs Kenny would have to go into the witness box and say that from 1998 and 2003, notwithstanding their close relationship, they intended to take the Charltons' land and that they did this deliberately and openly. He said he would invite the court to disbelieve that.
He said for adverse possession to be claimed there had to be 'an ouster'. Someone had to come onto the land and oust the true owner and all others.
He said this was clearly not the case as the Charltons had continued to use the land to walk to Dalkey village on occasion.
He described Gorse Hill as a rocky outcrop or amenity land and that the Charltons were entitled to treat it as such and did not have to be walking it every day or checking it.
He said Mr Charlton was entitled to relax and not assume that his good neighbour was going to take the land from him and that there was no evidence that the Kennys were trying to do this.
There had been repeated requests by Mr Kenny to buy the land and repeated refusals by Mr Charlton and this made it manifestly clear to Mr Kenny that Mr Charlton wanted to keep the land.
