This article is from page 2 of the 2008-08-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
THE land at the centre of a bitter east Clare family dispute remains unsold more than a year after a court case over ownership of the property which is valued at €1.4 million.
However, Limerick auctioneer, John de Courcy who is handling the sale of the 66 acres near Tulla, said he had turned down a number of of- fers and is talking to a number of interested parties. Last year the land was put up for sale at public auction and Mr de Courcy said the failure to sell was due to “the current climate”.
The lands at Larraroe and Rannagh are being sold in five lots and include two ruins and an old house.
The sale was allowed proceed after Judge Harvey Kenny ordered Marie
O’ Halloran to vacate the land after a case taken by her sister-in law, Jose- phine Barry (72).
Mrs O’Halloran told Ennis Circuit Court that her late husband, Stanley O’ Halloran reached a deal in the late 1970s with the owner of the farm, his late brother, Michael, to buy the land for £65,000. She said Stanley paid different sums of cash over the years to Michael, who was a bachelor farmer.
However, it was admitted that there was no record of the agreement and Mrs O’Halloran had no record of cheques paid to Michael due to the time that had elapsed.
Josephine Barry dismissed the monies paid by Stanley O’ Halloran to Michael as ‘pocket money’ and said she had no knowledge of the alleged
deal to sell the farm to Stanley.
Mrs Barry’s sister, Ida Rohan told the court: “If there was a deal, it wouldn’t hold water.”
Counsel for Mrs Barry said Michael O’Halloran died aged 64 in May 2004 without a will and his farm was divided between his two sisters, Mrs Barry and Ida Rohan and Stanley O’ Halloran. Stanley died four months later aged 68 and his share passed to his wife, Marie O’Halloran.
Judge Kenny granted possession of the lands to Mrs Barry, an injunc- tion against Mrs O’Halloran from re-entering the lands, damages of €30,000 with a permanent stay if there was compliance with the order and costs to Mrs Barry.
After the Judge’s decision in Au- gust, a sign was erected on a pole at
the land stating “The O’Hallorans have been evicted from these lands despite several attempts to settle. The O’Halloran family now intends to purchase the lands at auction.”
Solicitors for Marie O’Halloran subsequently wrote to Mrs Barry’s solicitors stating that the signs had been removed and that she would not carry out any acts to frustrate the sale of the land.
Another incident occurred on Sep- tember 24 involving Mrs O’Halloran’s son, Daniel; Mrs Barry’s husband, Michael and her sister, Ida Rohan.
The matter was raised at Ennis Cir- cuit Court last October when Daniel and Conor O’ Halloran undertook not to obstruct the sale of the land and a court order was granted to this ef- ee