Couple boarded up by council settle damages

A couple and their four- month-old baby, who were mistakenly boarded up in their home by council workmen, have settled a €76,000 claim for damages for an undisclosed sum.

Tristan Ua Ceithearnaigh, 46, and his partner, Elisa Udtohan, 25, claimed they had been sitting in their home at 42 Eugene St, Dublin 8, on Dec 14, 2010, when corrugated iron sheets were attached with six-inch nails to their front door and window.

Barrister Bernard McCabe told Judge Gerard Griffin in the Circuit Civil Court yesterday that Mr Ua Ceithearnaigh and Ms Udtohan, now of The Mews, Collegeland, Saggart, Co Dublin, had reached settlements in their damages claims for €38,000 each.

In civil bills issued by McGuinn Solicitors against Dublin City Council, the couple alleged they had been resting at home after returning from shopping with their baby, Mia.

They had ignored the doorbell at their privately rented house in Eugene St because they were not expecting anyone, but believed they were under siege by criminals when they heard hammering at the door.

Mr Ua Ceithearnaigh had dialled 999 after shouting to the people outside that they were in the house and demanded to know what was happening.

Mr Ua Ceithearnaigh and Ms Udtohan related how large corrugated iron sheets were nailed to the windows and door. Ms Udtohan and Mia were crying as Mr Ua Ceithearnaigh shouted at the men after seeing six-inch nails come through the door frame. The rooms became dark.

The men hammering asked him if he was a squatter and he told them it was a privately rented house. He heard someone say: “Hold on a minute,” and the workmen started pulling nails out of the door frame, removing the corrugated iron.

Through a spy-hole, Mr Ua Ceithearnaigh saw two Dublin City Council vans outside. He opened the front door and saw workmen begin fixing the iron sheets they had removed from his home to a vacant house next door.

Mr Ua Ceithearnaigh and Ms Udtohan claimed they had been medically treated for emotional distress and had left No 42 shortly afterwards to find a new home.

In a full defence to both claims, Dublin City Council denied the couple’s allegations of false imprisonment or that it defamed them by creating the impression they were squatters or undesireable, or were being evicted.

Judge Griffin struck out both actions on foot of undisclosed settlements.