The High Court has directed that a preliminary hearing be held to determine whether a damages claim brought by Finbar Tolan against Mayo County Council over events surrounding a planning application in Claremorris is statute barred.
Mr Justice Micheál O’Higgins delivered judgment on 22 April 2026, stressing that he was deciding only how the case should proceed and not whether Tolan’s claim was actually brought too late.
Tolan applied in 2006 for permission to build a house in County Mayo. His first application was refused over concerns about wastewater disposal, but a second application was granted subject to conditions. Through a solicitor, he complained about aspects of the planning process and those conditions later that year and again in January 2007.
He ultimately issued proceedings against Mayo County Council in May 2019, seeking damages on grounds including breach of contract, negligence, misrepresentation and alleged losses connected with the planning process.
The council argues that any cause of action arose more than six years before the proceedings began and says the case is therefore statute barred. Tolan disputes that, maintaining among other things that his loss had not crystallised at the earlier dates relied upon by the council.
The judge said the question of limitation was a suitable issue to try separately because it could dispose of the action entirely or substantially narrow what remains to be decided, saving court time and costs.
O’Higgins J also ruled that the preliminary hearing will proceed on the basis of Tolan’s amended pleadings, excluding proposed allegations of fraud which he had refused to permit in a separate ruling.
Where the affidavits disclose factual conflicts, the limitation issue is to be decided on the basis of Tolan’s version of the facts.
The judgment leaves the substantive dispute unresolved. The next stage is a separate hearing confined to whether the proceedings were commenced within the applicable statutory time limits.