Nama-appointed receivers seek to move Travellers from site

Receivers appointed by the National Assets Management Agency (Nama) are seeking High Court injunctions compelling two members of the Travelling community to vacate a greenfield site earmarked for a new school.

Insolvency practitioners Jim Hamilton and David O’Connor want the orders against David and Patrick Maughan in relation to lands at Monasterevin Road, Portarlington, Co Laois. They claim the Maughans are currently residing on the property, and are not entitled to be there.

The court was told the receivers have brought the proceedings because they were in the process of selling the lands, intended for a new primary school.

When the matter came before Mr Justice Paul Gilligan at the High Court on Thursday, the Maughans were in court but were not represented by either solicitor or barrister. They told the court they were only recently served with documents and did not have time to get a lawyer.

They denied their mobile homes were on the greenfield site, and said they were located on the road nearby. They had been living on the site since March 2015, they added.

Adjourning the matter for a week, Mr Justice Gilligan said the case was essentially about whether the Maughans owned the property, had entered into a lease, or an agreement that would allow them stay on the lands at the centre of the dispute.