The High Court has ordered Dublin City Council to pay Michelle Maher €50,153.42, representing a derelict sites levy and interest she paid under protest as purchaser of lands. The award forms part of a supplemental judgment dealing with the orders to follow the court’s principal judgment, which held that Maher was not liable for the levy as purchaser.
Mr Justice Garrett Simons delivered the supplemental judgment on 25 July 2023 after a short hearing the previous day. The principal judgment was delivered on 18 July 2023 in *Maher v Dublin City Council* [2023] IEHC 408.
The judge said a formal damages award would make the remedy clear, particularly because the parties disputed interest and the council intended to seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. Maher paid the €50,153.42 under protest on 24 June 2019. The judgment records that the payment was reasonable while penalty interest was accruing at 1.25 per cent a month.
The court declined to award interest for the period between payment and judgment. Maher’s counsel had sought interest from the payment date, potentially at the rate imposed under the Derelict Sites Act 1990. But the judge noted that the pleadings had not been amended after payment to claim interest, and that correspondence about remitting the case to the Circuit Court had described the claim as recovery of the sum paid and legal costs.
Interest is payable at the rate prescribed under the Courts Act 1981 from the date of judgment, if the award is not paid in good time, subject to the stay. The court also awarded Maher her costs in the Circuit Court and High Court, including written submissions and reserved costs. If the parties cannot agree the amount, it is to be adjudicated under Part 10 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015.
The orders are stayed pending the council’s application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. If leave is granted, the stay continues until the appeal is determined or the court makes a further order. The judge declined to direct interim payment, saying the case arose from what was in effect a commercial transaction and there was no indication that waiting would cause Maher undue hardship.
The final order also declares that the statutory charge over the scheduled lands was overreached under section 21 of the Conveyancing Act 1881 when Provale Construction Ltd sold the lands. The judgment corrected a chronology error in the principal judgment: proceedings began with a plenary summons issued on 10 June 2016, before the payment was made in 2019. The judge said this correction did not affect the reasoning.