A High Court judge has directed that experts examining a €1 million disputed patch of land beside RTÉ broadcaster Pat Kenny's Dalkey home should be allowed to take photographs of the land.
Mr Justice Frank Clarke directed that an architect and horticulturist should be allowed to photograph the land in advance of a case involving Mr Kenny and his next-door neighbours.
Mr Kenny is claiming squatters' rights over the land beside his home in Dalkey. Last month he was directed by the High Court to allow experts to access it for inspection.
The dispute over the land, known as Gorse Hill, is between Pat and Cathy Kenny and neighbours Gerard Charlton (72) and his wife Maeve. The Charltons claim to be the legal owners of the rocky outcrop over which the ownership dispute is being waged. The Kennys claim any title the Charltons may have had to the property has been extinguished by adverse possession (squatters' rights).
Mr Justice Clarke directed last month that an architect and a horticulturist together with the Charltons' solicitor should be permitted access to the land.
Mr Charlton, a retired solicitor, Maple Tree House, Harbour Road, Dalkey, rejects the assertion by the Kennys that they have squatters' rights, which can apply where a property has been abandoned for 12 or more years.
Mr Kenny, Bulloch Harbour, is claiming he locked the property from public access 16 years ago and that it has been inaccessible since, except by scaling a cliff.
Eileen Barrington, for the Charltons, told Mr Justice Clarke yesterday that agreement had been reached with Mr Kenny's legal team on a number of issues but the experts who are to inspect the land wanted to be allowed to take photos of it. Douglas Clarke, for the Kennys, said that the judge had last month refused the application for photographs.
However, Mr Justice Clarke said that in the circumstances, it would be appropriate to permit the experts to take photos provided that they were necessary for the purpose of supplementary items in their report regarding the timing of the work to be carried out by the Kennys.