The High Court has refused the State defendants permission to enforce a €175,659.58 costs order against farmer John Rooney, finding they had not adequately explained delays in pursuing their application.
Ms Justice Stack delivered judgment on 7 May 2025 in proceedings begun in 1995. The substantive case concerned compensation under the Bovine TB Eradication Scheme. That case was dismissed in 2004, with Mr Rooney ordered to pay the defendants’ costs. The costs were later assessed at €175,659.58, and the Supreme Court affirmed the 2004 order in 2010.
The defendants applied in July 2015 for leave to issue execution, required because more than six years had passed since the costs order. The application was heard in June 2024, with further submissions heard in October 2024. The question before Justice Stack was whether the defendants had given an adequate explanation for the time taken to pursue the application. The underlying compensation dispute was not before her.
The judge accepted that delays before the 2015 application could be explained by the time taken to assess the costs, a stay while Mr Rooney pursued an unsuccessful Supreme Court appeal, related proceedings, and unsuccessful efforts to recover the costs through the sheriff.
But Justice Stack ruled that the defendants also had to explain the delay after filing their application. She found that Mr Rooney’s appeal in related 1987 proceedings explained delay until July 2017, and that court restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic accounted for part of the later period. She attributed much of the remaining delay to the defendants, including years without a formal step to revive the application and the loss of a hearing date in January 2024.
The judge concluded that the defendants had not met the legal threshold for an extension of time. She refused leave to issue execution for the 2004 costs order. The judgment did not determine any other claims or enforcement applications. Justice Stack said the matter would be listed to deal with final orders and costs.