Specialist settles CPO case involving €15m claim

A Co Carlow eye specialist has settled her High Court proceedings for compensation over a compulsory purchase order on her home and surgery to facilitate a road development.

Under the settlement, the dispute between Dr Mona McGarry and Carlow Town Council will now be dealt with by an arbitrator.

Mr Justice Thomas Smyth yesterday received the terms of settlement, which include a confidentiality clause. He observed the case involved a claim for some €15 million compensation by Dr McGarry and recommended that the case be speedily addressed in arbitration.

The settlement was reached after lengthy talks between lawyers for both sides and was handed in to Mr Justice Smyth just before lunchtime yesterday.

John Gallagher SC, for Dr McGarry, said the terms provided that the proceedings be struck out with no order for costs and liberty to both sides to apply to the court in relation to implementation of the terms.

It was neither necessary nor desirable for the terms to be set out, counsel added.

Esmonde Keane SC, with John Doherty, for the council, said he agreed that the terms should be kept confidential.

James Connolly SC, for Ireland and the Attorney General, said the constitutional claims in the action - regarding the constitutionality of compulsory purchase provisions in the Housing Act 1996 and their alleged incompatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights - could also be struck out with no order.

The judge said he was happy the parties had resolved their differences and said this was a case where arbitration was properly contemplated. Both parties should tell the arbitrator the court's view, having read the papers in the case in detail, that the matter should have the highest priority that could be afforded it, he said.

The judge said the case has a public interest dimension and was also of concern for Dr McGarry, whose home and profession were involved. A claim of such magnitude, some €15 million, required immediate attention, he added.

In her proceedings, Dr McGarry had sought compensation over the CPO made on January 17th, 2005, over lands which included her home and surgery at Athy Road, Carlow. Dr McGarry had bought the property in 1979 and held the lands under lease for a term of 500 years from April 1956.

The property consisted of a house, consulting rooms and garden, and a separate self-contained suite of business offices.

From about February 1980, Dr McGarry had used rooms on the property for her practice as an ophthalmologist and optician, known as The Eye Centre. She also has consulting rooms at Anglesea Road, Dublin, but, in an affidavit, she said her principal place of business was in Carlow.

Dr McGarry had objected to the CPO but it was confirmed by An Bord Pleanála in July 2005. Dr McGarry claimed the Board was precluded under the 1996 Housing Act from considering issues of compensation and also claimed it did not consider her personal circumstances.

She claimed the council had also represented to her that it would source alternative accommodation for her where she could live and carry on her business but that claim was denied.

A notice of entry was served on Dr McGarry and some tenants of hers in November 2005 and in February 2006 she submitted a claim for compensation. Possession of the lands was demanded by the council by a notice of February 16th, 2006.