The High Court has ruled that a 150-metre stretch of road running through a Co Monaghan farmyard was not shown to be a public road or a public right of way.
Donal Gerard McDaid brought proceedings against Monaghan County Council over the status of the section of road at his farm, which forms part of local road LT81012 near Beagh, Donaghmoyne, Carrickmacross.
The Council maintained that the road was public and had been taken in charge. Mr McDaid argued that it was private and that access historically available to neighbouring landowners arose from a private right of way dating from the subdivision of family lands in the 1830s.
Ms Justice Nessa Cahill found that the Council had not proved dedication of the disputed stretch as a public right of way. Evidence of use was largely confined to neighbouring families and occasional users, rather than the public at large. The judge said the law should not discourage landowners from allowing neighbours to use convenient routes through their property.
The court also found no evidence that the Council had maintained or resurfaced the disputed 150 metres. Works carried out on other parts of LT81012 in 1978, 2000, 2001 and 2022 did not extend to the farmyard section, while evidence showed the McDaid family had itself carried out maintenance.
The Council could not establish that the road had been formally taken in charge under the Local Government Act 1953. The judge rejected reliance on a presumption that statutory formalities had been followed where records were absent.
She also attached no weight to a 2019 Council certificate describing LT81012 as a public road, noting evidence that no formal order under the Roads Act 1993 had been made.
The court rejected the Council’s defences of delay and estoppel. However, Mr McDaid’s damages claim failed because negligence or breach of duty had not been properly pleaded or proved.
A declaration will issue that the disputed road is not a public right of way or public road. Costs and final orders were left for a later hearing.