A solicitor who has sued a developer and building firm for allegedly causing such damage to his south Dublin home that it became a health and safety risk told the High Court yesterday he had not wanted to leave his home but it was as if a "hand grenade was thrown behind me".
As a result of damage to his home at Pembroke Place caused by the building of an apartment complex next door, Mr Denis Murnaghan said he and his wife, journalist Justine McCarthy, and their young son had moved out of their home in July 2003 and into rented accommodation at Wellington Road, Dublin, where they remain.
He said he was not happy in the rented accommodation. "I would just like to be back in a house that I own, I would really like to be back in my own house but that's impossible and it's not my fault," he said.
Mr Murnaghan was continuing his evidence on the third day of proceedings taken by him against Markland Holdings Ltd (MHL), Upper Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin, a development company involving developer Mr Sean Mulryan, and Cantier Construction Ltd, a building firm based at Dominic Street, Limerick, which went into voluntary liquidation last year.
The court has heard that Mr Murnaghan and his family had moved out of the house which has since been sold for some €830,000. Mr Murnaghan claims that figure is considerably less than the €1.75 million he could reasonably have secured if the house was undamaged.
In evidence to Mr Rory MacCabe SC yesterday, Mr Murnaghan said that because of a number of factors, including the condition of his home and the progress of legal proceedings taken by him regarding the development, he had decided in July 2003 to move out.
He felt he had to move, "this was like a hand grenade being thrown behind me".
Mr Brian O'Moore SC, for MHL, said it would be his case that Mr Murnaghan was fundamentally mistaken in relation to parts of his evidence.
The case continues today before Ms Justice Laffoy.