Lissadell legal costs expected today

Sligo County Council is today facing the daunting possibility of being hit with a legal bill of over €7 million because of its failure to establish that rights of way exist at the historic 400-acre Lissadell Estate. If that is the case, the financial indebtiness of the council, currently at €94m, could be pushed to over €100m thereby setting an unenviable local authority debt record in Ireland.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the costs of the case today. Lissadell House and estate is owned by barrister couple Edward Walsh and Constance Cassidy who turned the north Sligo landmark property into a viable tourist attraction and open-air concert venue.

The couple bought the property for €4 million in 2003 and spent another €9.5 million restoring it. But in 2009 they closed the doors to the public and issued legal proceedings against Sligo County Council over a provision in the county development plan which asserted public rights of way on the property. They lost after a mammoth 58-day hearing in the High Court but won on appeal late last year. Today, Wednesday 15 January, the Supreme Court will address the issue of legal costs. If the council is ordered to foot the bill for both sides, the figure could be as high as €7 million, €3 million more than the purchase price of Lissadell 11 years ago.

The Supreme Court revealed that Sligo County Council knew as far back as the 1950s that no public rights of way inside the Lissadell Estate existed. See Sligo Today 15/1/14. Yet the council, under the direction of the former County Manager Hubert Kearns, at the behest of one councillor and a mere handful of campaigning objectors embarked on a process that could finally bankrupt Sligo County Council.