Cabra club members win injunction in pigeon racing dispute

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Four Cabra Racing Pigeon Club members secured a temporary High Court injunction on 20 December 2023, lifting their suspensions from pigeon racing activities. The order followed a hearing before Mr Justice Mark Sanfey and allowed them to take part in racing activities while the dispute continued.

The members are Daniel Boylan, David Boylan, John Aylmer and Robert Timmons. They sued the Irish Homing Union Southern Region and two of its executives after being suspended from pigeon racing activities.

The plaintiffs said the suspensions prevented them from registering new chicks with racing identification rings, which must be assigned within seven days of a bird’s birth. They feared thousands of chicks could have to be culled if they could not be registered in time.

Their case concerns requests for club documents and information about alleged discussions with a property developer over the club’s leasehold interest in its Dublin 7 clubhouse. Their allegations about the defendants’ role in the suspensions remain claims made by the plaintiffs.

The injunction was granted on an ex parte basis. The judge expressed hope that the parties could resolve the dispute through mediation, and the case was due to return to the High Court in the New Year.