Family land row a ‘desperate tragedy’

A judge has told members of a family that “it is a desperate tragedy” that a land dispute between a mother and her eldest son ended up in court.

Judge Tom O’Donnell made his remarks at Ennis Circuit Court in the case of Michael McNamara, aged 39, of Silvergrove, Bodyke, Co Clare, who was seeking possession of a house and 13 acres owned by his mother, Mary McNamara, of Davitt Terrace, Cloughleigh, Ennis.

Mr McNamara leased the house and lands from his mother between 1991 and 2009 and told the court that his mother intimated to him that she would leave the house and lands at Silvergove to him. Mrs McNamara disputed this. Neither party lives at the house.