Judge casts an eye on Lissadell estate
Mr. Justice McMahon with legal representatives and engineers including, John Owens, Tony O' Keeffe, Dermot Hewson and Gerard McGovern along with usher, Mr. Giles and Judicial Fellow, Christopher Martin.
High Court judge Bryan McMahon spent several hours inspecting Lissadell estate during his visit there on Friday last. The Judge made the trip as part of the hearing into a dispute over alleged rights away at the North Sligo residence which is own by barristers, Edward Walsh and his wife, Constance Cassidy.
Judge McMahon stopped off at the grave of WB Yeats in Drumcliffe at 10.45 a.m. on Friday on his way to the ancestral home of Countess Markievicz.
The Judge then visited Lissadell where he walked the estate until approximately 3.30 p.m. He was accompanied by a judicial researcher, his driver and legal representatives of the Walsh family and Sligo County Council.
These were: Mr. Gerard McGovern, solictor for the Walshs and Mr. Dermot Hewson, solicitor for the County Council. There was also an engineer on each side present, Mr. Tony O'Keefe for the Walshs and Mr. John Owens for the Council.
Mr Justice McMahon, who is chairman of the board of the Abbey Theatre, made a brief stop at Drumcliffe, where he posed for photographs at the nearby graveyard where Nobel Peace Prize winning poet, W.B. Yeats is buried and whose headstone bears the inscription, 'Cast a cold eye on life, on death, Horseman pass by.'
He then travelled the remaining 6km journey westwards to the 410-acre estate on the shores of Sligo Bay that is at the centre of the dispute which has ended up in his court.
The case resumed before Mr. Justice McMahon today (Wednesday) after ten days of hearing evidence to date. Witnesses who have appeared before the court so far include Mr. Walsh, Nicholas Prins and Charlie Kelly of Atlantic Clams Ireland Ltd which is based at Lissadell.
Mr Walsh has told the court that the council's claims were designed to "humiliate, embarrass and undermine" everything that had been done on the estate since it was purchased by him and his wife in 2003.
Mr. Walsh and his wife bought the estate, which was the birthplace of 1916 revolutionary Countess Markievicz, for almost €4m, and have since spent €9.5m restoring the house and gardens and creating a yearround tourism product.
They say that they purchased the property on the understanding that rights of way did not exist.
The two claim they cannot continue to operate it as a tourist amenity if rights of way exist. The hearing is expected to last several more weeks.
- PAUL DEERING
