Film director Sheridan allowed to itemise alleged home defects

FILM director Jim Sheridan and his wife, Fran, have been allowed by the High Court to specifically itemise alleged defects in the construction of their luxury seafront home at Dalkey, Co Dublin.

Mr Justice Frank Clarke held that updated consolidated particulars of negligence and breach of contract did not include claims of negligence not originally listed in their €4 million action. He said the service of new particulars on a builder, sub-contractors and professionals engaged in the building of the Sheridan home not so much expanded the couple’s claim as contracted it by making more specific the allegations previously stated.

Barrister Oisin Quinn, SC, for the Sheridans had told the court the couple intended their home, the site of a former fisherman’s cottage they bought in 1997, to be one of the finest and most spectacular coastal properties in Ireland. As a result of alleged negligence on the part of various parties engaged in the design and construction of “Martha’s Vineyard” on Coliemore Road, Dalkey, the house had suffered from extensive water ingress.