The High Court has found that BQ Investments breached its agreement with the trustees of Thomond Football Club by failing to construct an access road promised as part of the sale of club lands in County Limerick.
The dispute arose from the club trustees’ sale of approximately 8.76 acres for £330,000 under an agreement completed in December 2000. Planning permission had been obtained for a student housing development of 238 apartments on the sold lands.
A special condition of the sale reserved a right of way for access to the club’s remaining property. It described a six-metre-wide roadway with footpaths on both sides and appropriate public lighting for the use of football pitches and a clubhouse.
BQ Investments accepted that it had an obligation to construct the road but argued that the duty would arise only when the club had both pitches and a clubhouse capable of using it. The trustees disputed that interpretation, saying the construction obligation arose when the land sale was completed.
Miss Justice Laffoy agreed with the trustees. She held that the words referring to football pitches and a clubhouse limited the purpose for which the right of way could be used; they did not create a condition requiring those facilities to exist before the defendant had to build the road. Reading the agreement otherwise would, she said, effectively rewrite the parties’ bargain.
The court therefore found BQ Investments in breach of contract.
The club had spent €67,833 developing and maintaining the access strip itself. Evidence described the existing route as a hardcore roadway without proper lighting or footpaths and unsuitable as a permanent road.
However, the judge did not immediately order BQ Investments to construct the road. Evidence indicated that a proposed Limerick regeneration relief road could lead to compulsory acquisition of the retained lands, making construction potentially wasteful. She indicated that damages appeared the more appropriate remedy but postponed a final decision so both sides could make further submissions and, if necessary, produce additional evidence.