Ballroom dispute settled at High Court

A DISPUTE between two men involved in the relaunch last summer of a landmark Dublin dancehall, the Ierne Ballroom, has been settled at the High Court.

James Cafferty and Ierne Entertainment Centre Ltd had sued Austin Kelly, a builder, of Castleknock, Dublin, and owner of the Ierne, over a lease for operation of the ballroom premises at Parnell Square, Dublin, and over the nature of works carried out for the Ierne’s relaunch. The Ierne was one of the foremost venues of the 1960s showband era until it closed in the 1980s. It reopened last June.

The hearing opened yesterday before Mr Justice Thomas Smyth but, after talks between the sides later yesterday, the judge was told by Martin Hayden SC, for Mr Cafferty, with the consent of Robert Barron SC, for Mr Kelly, that the sides had resolved their differences and the case could be struck out with no order except that a bank draft of €43,000 lodged in court should be returned to the plaintiffs’ solicitor.

Mr Cafferty claimed he and Mr Kelly reached an agreement last year under which Mr Kelly was to have refurbishment works done to facilitate the relaunch of the Ierne. He claimed there was a draft agreement under which Mr Kelly agreed that Mr Cafferty could operate the premises as a dance venue. However, Mr Hayden said the agreed works, including installation of three bars and of an air conditioning system, were not fully completed.

The Ierne was initially to have reopened in March last but the premises was not officially reopened until last June. As a result of the alleged failure to complete the works, people who went dancing in the Ierne last summer suffered from the heat and there were a lot of complaints, said Mr Hayden.

Counsel said only two of the planned three bars were completed by the opening date of June 12 last while the downstairs bar was “unsafe and dangerous”. Mr Kelly had denied the claims.

Mr Hayden said the “crux of the problem” emanated from media reports that Mr Cafferty had “brought dancing back to the Ierne”. Mr Kelly had said in an affidavit he had been upset at a TV interview in which, he said, Mr Cafferty had given the impression that he owned the Ierne.