Judge tells experts to photograph land beside Kenny's home

A judge today directed that experts examining a €1m disputed patch of land beside RTÉ broadcaster Pat Kenny's Dalkey home should be allowed to take photographs of the land.

Mr Justice Frank Clarke directed that an architect and horticulturist should be allowed to photograph the land in advance of a High Court case involving Kenny and his next door neighbours.

The RTÉ broadcaster is claiming squatter's rights over the land beside his home in the Dublin suburb of Dalkey and last month was directed by the High Court to allow experts to access it for inspection.

The dispute over the land which is known as Gorse Hill, is between Pat and Cathy Kenny and next door neighbours Gerard Charlton (aged 72) and his wife Maeve.

The Charltons claim to be the legal owners of the rocky outcrop over which the ownership dispute is being waged. The Kennys contest the Charltons' title and claim any title they may have had to the property has been extinguished by adverse possession (squatters' rights).

Mr Justice Clarke directed last month that an architect and a horticulturist together with the Charltons' solicitor should be permitted access to the lands.

Mr Charlton, a retired solicitor, of Maple Tree House, Harbour Road, Dalkey, rejects the assertion by the Kennys that they have squatters' rights to the property which can apply where a property has been abandoned for 12 or more years.

Mr Kenny, of Bulloch Harbour, is claiming he locked the property from public access 16 years ago and that it has been inaccessible since then, except by scaling a cliff.

s Eileen Barrington BL, for the Charltons, told Mr Justice Clarke that agreement had been reached with Mr Kenny's legal team on a number of issues but the experts who are to inspect the land wanted to be allowed to take photos of it.

Mr Douglas Clarke BL, for the Kennys, said that the judge last month refused the application for photographs.

Mr Justice Clarke said: "In the circumstances it would be appropriate to permit the experts to take photos provided that they are necessary for the purpose of supplementary items in their report regarding the timing of the work to be carried out by the Kennys.''

The judge adjourned the case for another four weeks.