Student accommodation owners get temporary injunction banning pub operator from taking over part of yard
The owners of a student accommodation complex on Dublin's Upper Dorset Street have claimed before the High Court part of its yard has been unlawfully appropriated by the operator of an adjoining pub.
The court was told a group of men had, at 7.38am on Wednesday, used a ladder to come over a boundary wall with the pub, entered the yard of the Aparto accommodation complex and erected wooden hoarding around part of an open area, cutting off access to part of the open area which contains a bike shed.
River Dublin 1 SARL, which owns the complex, got a temporary High Court injunction today against the operator of The Long Island Bar, Edward Walsh.
The court was told solicitors for Mr Walsh had in correspondence claimed the student accommodation is trespassing on part of Mr Walsh's leased property and has prevented him accessing part of his property.
That claim is denied and River Dublin claims no documentation to support Mr Walsh's claim has been furnished to the company. The injunction, granted on an ex parte basis (one side only represented) by Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds, prevents Mr Walsh, his servants and agents trespassing on the student accommodation or interfering with the removal of the hoarding placed there.
The action is also against receivers appointed over certain assets of Corn Circle Ltd, owner of the pub.
Seeking the order, Conor Feeney BL, for River Dublin, said there has been a dispute between Mr Walsh and his client.
In 2017, just before the complex opened, Mr Walsh and his agents broke through the boundary walls separating the properties and created a doorway and, last May, a further opening was created in the boundary by Mr Walsh, counsel said.
On both occasions, his client took steps to secure the premises and erected metal fencing preventing access to the property.
Last month, Mr Walsh's lawyers informed River Dublin he could no longer tolerate the trespass by the company, and would remove building works on his property, counsel said.
Last Wednesday morning, in a "premeditated move", five men carried out works and removed the fencing erected by River Dublin, counsel said. They proceeded to construct wooden hoarding resulting in access being blocked to most of the bike shed and appropriating part of an open area used by the students.
The area was now "out of bounds" to his client and the students, mainly foreign students studying English here who are younger than the third-level students who reside at the complex during term time.
Mr Walsh, through solicitors, previously claimed he had a right to possess the land at issue but that was contested by River Dublin, counsel added. Mr Walsh's actions meant his client had no choice but to come to court.
Ms Justice Reynolds, describing as "premeditated" and "organised" the actions of those who had come over the wall, said she was satisfied to grant the orders and also directed gardaí to attend when the plaintiff's agents remove the hoarding.
The matter will return before the court next week.
