THE OWNERS of Dublin's Ilac shopping mall refused Dunnes Stores permission to convert part of its shop in the centre as they wanted to force out the retailer, the High Court heard yesterday.
Last March, the centre's owners, developer Joseph O'Reilly and Irish Life Assurance plc, refused Dunnes Stores (Ilac Centre) Ltd permission to convert its ground-floor outlet from a department store to a high-quality food hall.
Summing up the case against the centre's landlords yesterday, Brian Moore SC, for Dunnes Stores, said the decision was "driven by the desire to reacquire the unit" the retailer occupies and said the refusal was designed to "crowbar" the company out of the unit.
Mr Moore claimed the defendants tried to cover up this fact by not complying fully with discovery orders issued earlier in the case.
He also said that the reason why there were no notes of a meeting in November 2006, where the application for a change of use was discussed, was to conceal the fact that Irish Life and Mr O'Reilly had decided that they wanted to take back the unit.
Dunnes has held a 145-year lease on its Ilac premises since 1989. The terms permit the company to use the property as a "department store".
Dunnes Stores sought the landlords' permission for a change of use to a food hall in November 2006, but was refused the following March on grounds of good estate management.
The defendants told the retailer that the plan did not fit with the "image and vision" of the Ilac centre.
Responding to the Dunnes Stores claim yesterday, the defendants' counsel said that they had initially made a mistake regarding what they had to provide under the discovery orders.
He pointed out that they had subsequently provided more than 100,000 documents.
Irish Life and Mr O'Reilly argue that their decision to refuse Dunnes Stores permission for a change of use was reasonable and was one which they were entitled to make.
Their counsel also said that the fact that the landlords had discussed with Dunnes Stores the possibility of giving up the Ilac unit in favour of alternative accommodation was not a sign that Irish Life and Mr O'Reilly had an ulterior motive when they refused permission.
