The High Court removed Athlone Town Stadium Ltd. as trustee of the property used by Athlone Town Football Club and ordered that it be replaced by Athlone Town A.F.C. Co. Limited by guarantee. The order took effect immediately.
In a judgment delivered on 12 April 2018, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys found that the stadium company had breached its duties as trustee. The court directed it to assign its interests in the Lissywollen property, the club’s lease and related rights, including insurance and any mobile mast rights. The judge said the parties would address the timescale and mechanism for the assignment.
The dispute concerned an 8.5-acre site at Lissywollen, County Westmeath, which the judgment said had been transferred to the stadium company as trustee for the club. A 2015 deed declared that the company held the property on trust for the club’s executive committee as beneficial owner. The club sought the company’s removal after it failed to transfer the property when asked and amid disputes over maintenance, access, insurance and development funding.
The club had secured €200,000 in sports ground funding for an Astroturf facility. The judgment said the club’s interest could not be registered in a way that would allow it to provide a charge required by the grant. Efforts to resolve the dispute failed, and the court found that the stadium company had not taken the steps needed to facilitate the grant.
The company disputed the trust and argued, among other matters, that the plaintiff lacked authority to sue for club members and that the club’s indemnity covered sums allegedly advanced by company principal Declan Molloy. The judge rejected the challenge to the plaintiff’s authority and dismissed the company’s motion to dismiss the proceedings. He found that the indemnity covered liabilities relating to the trust property, but not alleged company debts to Molloy for share purchases or loans.
The court also ordered the company and its directors to hand over the stadium keys by 8pm on 12 April and attend court with title documents the following day. It restrained them from entering the premises or taking further steps concerning the property without the plaintiff’s consent, except as specifically requested by him. The judge made no finding on a suggestion that Molloy’s departure from court during delivery of the judgment was contemptuous.
The plaintiff elected to pursue a damages claim, which was adjourned for further mention. Costs were also adjourned. The judgment did not determine those outstanding matters.