Son settles case seeking to evict mum

Fachtna Boland, the grandson and adopted son of former Defence Minister Kevin Boland, has settled a court case in which he had sought to evict his natural mother, Síle Boland, who is a daughter of the former minister.

The Circuit Civil Court was told Síle Boland had been pregnant with Fachtna when his father died prior to his birth. Judge John Aylmer heard that Kevin Boland and his wife, Cecilia, adopted Fachtna and reared him as their own son and as Sile’s brother.

Fachtna Boland had asked the court for a possession order against his mother of a chalet in which she now resided beside his house at Farmers Vale, Cruise Rath, Rathcoole, Co Dublin. Síle Boland opposed the application.

He said in evidence that he was a teenager before he discovered that Síle Boland, 56, who now lives in the chalet adjacent to his home, was his mother and not his sister. The court also heard that Síle had been adopted by the minister and his wife.

Fachtna told his counsel James Dwyer SC, who appeared with barrister Fergal Fitzgerald Doyle, that the 10 acres comprising Farmers Vale had been transferred from previous owners in 1990 to his grandparents and himself as joint tenants.

The court heard Kevin Boland died in 2001, followed by Cecilia in 2005, and her last will stipulated that Fachtna’s natural mother, Síle, would have a right of residence on the lands for as long as she wished.

Fachtna said that, in 2008, he signed an agreement to a registration of Síle’s right of residence, but had later found out that a pre-existing conveyance trumped this bequest in his grandmother Cecilia’s will.

He claimed that, due to a clerical error in the land registry, only Kevin and Cecilia Boland had been registered as full owners of the lands in 1990 and that he was therefore now entitled to full ownership without any encumbrances including the right of residence of his mother, Síle.

The court heard that he had been living on the lands with his grandparents and Sile had moved into the chalet in 1998, when she became a full-time carer for her aging parents.

Fachtna said his relationship with his mother, Síle, broke down around 2008, after he had signed the agreement. He said he had felt under pressure at the time he signed it.

He told Judge Aylmer that Síle had refused to give up possession of the chalet and to consent to the cancellation of the folio of her right of residence. Fachtna also claimed that the manner in which Síle used her right of residence was a nuisance and interfered with his and his wife Siobhan’s enjoyment of the property.

Following a full-day hearing and an adjournment of the court, Mr Dwyer told Judge Aylmer that the parties had reached a settlement whereby title of the lands could be rectified on order of the court.