The woman known as the "Blasket Island weaver" had the door of the island house she had rented seasonally for 16 years broken down and replaced and her possessions dumped on the lawn of her home on the mainland, the Circuit Civil Court heard in Killarney yesterday.
Sue Redican of An Blascaod Mór, DúChaoin, had since 1988 lived as a tenant at the Ó Dálaigh house on the Great Blasket island between spring and October. She had a passion for hand-weaving and a series of publications and programmes featured her life and work.
Matters between Ms Redican and the owner of the house, her once close friend, Lís Uí Ceileacháir, a secretary with Údarás na Gaeltachta, and her husband Donnchadh Ó Ceileacháir, the island flock manager, of Baile na Rathna, DúChaoin, had soured in recent years.
Matters came to a head when Ms Redican extended her business and began selling teas "and buns", in direct competition with Peter Callery, who owned the only island cafe, Ms Redican's barrister Henry Downing said.
In October 2004 she returned from a week in her native Wales to find her property dumped in her garden on the mainland, and some property missing. She now lives in a converted cow shed on the island, but this is too small for her crafts and teas business.
Ms Uí Ceileacháir denied there had ever been a landlord-tenant agreement between Ms Redican and herself. Her husband Donnchadh denied taking the law into his own hands, when he used a sledgehammer to break down the door. He had become worried about the extent of her business in a protected building.
"We wanted the house for ourselves as a family," he said.
Judge Carroll Moran found Ms Redican had been a periodic tenant. What the defendants had done by knocking down the door was unfortunate, he added, although this was not to criticise them.
Judge Moran adjourned to today a claim for special damages of €13,500 as well as the decision on whether Ms Redican has a business equity in the property and is entitled to operate in it.