A 66-year-old Co Tipperary man jailed for contempt arising out of a lengthy dispute over family land, walked from the Four Courts yesterday after a High Court judge ordered his release on bail.
Last July Thomas Kennedy, Rossestown, Thurles, was committed to jail at Nenagh Circuit Court after he refused to give an undertaking not to break an injunction preventing him entering a farm at Killkillahara, outside Thurles.
Yesterday at the High Court, following an inquiry under Article 40.2.2 of the Constitution, Mr Justice Peter Charleton directed that Mr Kennedy be released on bail and granted him leave that the decision to jail him be judicially reviewed. He said he was granting Mr Kennedy bail on condition that he be of good behaviour.
The judge said that he was granting leave for a judicial review after he was informed by Mr Kennedy's daughter that Circuit Judge Gerard Griffin, who had jailed her father, had not stated he had the option of jailing Mr Kennedy for a fixed period of time for being in contempt of court.
The judge said that following a ruling from former High Court president Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan, judges who jail individuals for contempt arising out of civil proceedings may determine the length of time the period of detention can last, or may impose a fine of a certain amount, even if these individuals do not purge themselves of their contempt.
"Judges can now decide if the period of detention for contempt is for a week or a month or whatever," said Mr Justice Charleton.
It was no longer the case that a person can be jailed for contempt for an unlimited period of time, until they purge their contempt, Mr Justice Charleton said.
The contempt case arose from a complex series of legal proceedings in relation to disputed lands in Thurles.
Mr Kennedy claims that he is the owner of a farm since 1972, having bought the lands from his brother Bartholomew for £12,000.
This is denied by Owen Harahill, a publican from Templemore, Co Tipperary who is the executor of the late Bartholomew (Batt) Kennedy's will.
Batt Kennedy died seven years ago and, according to Mr Harahill, left the disputed land folio to his two sisters. Thomas Kennedy insists that he bought the disputed tract of land from his brother Batt, but it is contended that a financial transaction between the Kennedy brothers in 1972 did not relate to the plot. Mr Kennedy was imprisoned in 2005 and 2007 for entering the lands.