Hedgerow dispute puts neighbour in ‘last place on Earth he wants to be’

One of the neighbours involved in a court battle over a hedge and laneway yesterday told the High Court the Four Courts was the last place on Earth he wanted to be.

He was replying to counsel for his next-door neighbours when asked was it his position that it was too late for common sense to prevail in their boundary dispute.

Mr Madigan was giving evidence in the second day of the action between neighbours in a scenic area by the sea in Co Wicklow.

The case is before the High Court by way of an appeal from the Circuit Court which last year found in favour of James and Anne Madigan, Askintinny near Clogga Beach in Co Wicklow and awarded them a total of €5,000 damages for trespass and nuisance and said they were entitled to a right of way onto the laneway for the purpose of maintaining their hedgerow. Neighbours Kathleen Maureen Rueter and her daughter and son Marian and Sean Rueter who run a caravan park at the end of the disputed laneway near the beach, have appealed that decision to the High Court.

The court has already heard that an open offer has been made by the Rueter side to settle the case which includes €20,000 towards legal costs previously incurred.

At the centre of the case is the alleged widening of the entrance to the laneway where it meets the public road and which the Madigans claim encroaches on their property.

In court, Mr James Madigan agreed he had written a letter to Wicklow County Council complaining about the Rueter caravan park — that it was encroaching on his property and he also complained of unofficial discos.

In 2006, Mr Madigan had objected to the granting of the continuation of the licence for the park.

Under cross examination Mr Madigan agreed he had at one stage put 14 signs up along the laneway saying nobody had a right to encroach on his property.

Mrs Anne Madigan said that after the Rueters raised the laneway people could see into her house. She said when they had soil delivered, the Rueters came and Mrs Rueter and her daughter got on top of the soil and told them they were “squatting and only mortgage holders”.

“I stood with my mouth open,” she said and added they were trying to protect the corner of their property with the soil. The case continues.