A High Court action taken by the liquidator of Edward Kavanagh (Maynooth), the Co Kildare grain merchant which collapsed in December 2000, has been settled with a €3 million payment that will be used to pay the company's creditors two final dividends.

The settlement of the case will bring to a close the liquidation of the well-known Kavanagh family business which dated back to the 1830s. The company was wound up in December 2000 with debts of €26 million, almost half of which was owed to banks.

The liquidator, accountant David Hughes of Ernst & Young, took a legal action against two members of the Kavanagh family - sisters Mary Kavanagh and Gráinne Burke - over the ownership of a large tract of land at Kilcock in Co Kildare near the former headquarters of Edward Kavanagh (Maynooth).

The liquidator was supported in his case against the sisters by their brothers - Edward, Tom and Willie, directors of the grain company and the sixth generation of the family to run the business.

It had been claimed that about 110 acres at Kilcock had been given to the sisters by their father, the late Edward Kavanagh Snr, but that as part of the transfer agreement, the company, Edward Kavanagh (Maynooth), would be entitled to a share of the proceeds from the land when it was sold.

The sisters sold about 90 acres to property developer Seán Reilly of McGarrell Reilly Homes in 2001. Mr Hughes also sued Mr Reilly initially as a defendant in the case but later dropped the action against him.

The sisters recently settled the case, paying Mr Hughes about €3 million.