The Supreme Court has ordered Michael Hoey to pay Waterways Ireland’s costs of an appeal that was dismissed in May 2021, and upheld an earlier High Court costs order. It directed that execution of the costs orders be stayed for one year.
The ruling, delivered on 13 July 2021, concerned costs following the Court’s 28 May dismissal of Mr Hoey’s appeal from a High Court decision refusing injunctive relief. The appeal arose from an interlocutory motion issued in December 2011. The Supreme Court said costs in both courts followed the event because the motion had been lost.
Waterways Ireland had sought its appeal costs and confirmation that the High Court’s 27 April 2012 order, including its costs award, remained in force. That order required Mr Hoey to pay the organisation’s costs of and incidental to the motion, to be taxed if the parties could not agree, with execution stayed for three months.
Mr Hoey agreed to the proposed order subject to requests for a longer stay and for the barge at the centre of the dispute not to be disposed of before a full hearing. He also sought a statement about his stated purpose in pursuing the case and his intended claims concerning water supply and navigation rights.
The Court granted a one-year stay, saying it considered that period reasonable in light of Covid delays. It said the case should not be delayed further and that the parties should seek an early hearing date in the High Court. The ruling gives liberty to apply to that court.
The Court did not decide the issues Mr Hoey said he intended to pursue at trial. It expressly declined to comment on statutory duties, the parties’ motivations, or whether the barge should be kept, moved or disposed of. It also said questions about wider navigation rights had not been argued in the appeal. The ruling records that Waterways Ireland had preserved the barge under an undertaking pending the proceedings.