An 87-year-old widow has lost a court action for possession of the site of her childhood home, estimated to be worth more than £1 million.
Mrs Kathleen Brohoon, of Craigford Avenue, Artane, Dublin, told Judge Liam Devally in Dublin Circuit Civil Court she grew up in Verbena Cottage, Collins Avenue West, Donnycarney, Dublin.
She said that in the 1920s and 1930s there were few other houses in the area, now built up, and in 1954 she had won a silver medal from the Royal Dublin Society for the gardens on her parents' half-acre plot.
Mrs Brohoon said she left to live in Artane when she married. Both her parents had died by 1957. She had maintained the property, which was maliciously burned in 1968, and the grounds, which had suffered greatly from vandalism.
She told Ms Carol O'Farrell, counsel for Dublin Corporation, that after numerous complaints to the local authority by public representatives, the corporation had taken over what it considered to be an abandoned property under the derelict sites legislation.
Mrs Brohoon said she had never abandoned the property. The corporation had turned it into a public park and she had done nothing to it since November 1968.
Ms O'Farrell told the court Mrs Brohoon was barred by the Statute of Limitations Act from seeking recovery of the property after 12 years, and any right and title she may have had to the property had been extinguished after that period under the Act.
She said Dublin Corporation had continuous and undisturbed possession of the property and had exercised ownership over it for over 25 years before the start of Mrs Brohoon's court proceedings in November 1999.
Mrs Brohoon's nephew, Mr Charles Brohoon, an employee of Fingal County Council, said he had only been aware of his aunt's claim for the past three years. He had recently visited the site and had found it to be untidy and not particularly well maintained. He had seen rubbish, including beer cans, strewn around.
The corporation parks superintendent, Mr Gerard Barry, told the court the local authority had laid out the site as a park and playground in 1973. In 1998, under the amended Dublin City Plan, the park had been rezoned from residential to open public space. The corporation's proposed amendment had gone on public display and there had been no objections.
Judge Devally dismissed Mrs Brohoon's application for a declaration that she was entitled to the property. He upheld a counterclaim by the corporation, granting it a declaration for adverse possession and entitlement to be registered as the owner of the property.
He also granted the corporation its legal costs.