The High Court has ordered Jason Cahill to pay the Residential Tenancies Board's legal costs after his appeal against an RTB determination was dismissed because it had been filed several months late.
Mr Justice David Barniville, President of the High Court, had already ruled on 18 July 2025 that Mr Cahill failed to bring his appeal within the 21-day period required by the Residential Tenancies Act 2004. The RTB determination order was dated 28 February 2024, while Mr Cahill did not issue his High Court motion until 20 December 2024.
The latest judgment dealt only with who should pay the costs of those proceedings.
Mr Cahill argued that he had been disadvantaged during the 14 July hearing at Washington Street Courthouse in Cork, which he attended remotely. He said he was initially sent an incorrect link, his camera did not work, he sometimes had difficulty hearing the RTB's barrister and documents he had supplied were not initially before the court.
The court reviewed the digital recording of the hearing and rejected those complaints. Mr Justice Barniville found that Mr Cahill ultimately received the correct link, participated throughout the hearing and was clearly audible. He had not complained at the time about being unable to hear submissions or about the failure of his camera.
Documents emailed by Mr Cahill were initially missing from the judge's papers. The hearing was briefly adjourned while the registrar located them. They were then provided to the judge and the RTB's legal team and were considered before judgment. The court found they were not relevant to the central question of whether the appeal had been lodged on time.
The judge also rejected the suggestion that Mr Cahill had received less opportunity to present his case, finding that he was given as much time as he wished.
Because the RTB had succeeded entirely on its preliminary objection, the court held that the usual rule applied and ordered Mr Cahill to pay its costs, including reserved costs and the costs of written submissions.