PAT KENNY and his wife Kathy will have to show they deliberately and intentionally took possession of the Gorse Hill land in Dalkey, Co Dublin, over which they are claiming adverse possession, the High Court heard yesterday.
Such evidence will be crucial to their claim they are entitled to adverse possession - squatter's rights - over Gorse Hill, Ms Justice Maureen Clark was told.
Retired solicitor Gerard Charlton and his wife Maeve claim they are the rightful owners of Gorse Hill and have never abandoned the land, Eoghan Fitzsimons, senior counsel for the Charltons, said.
"Mr and Mrs Kenny will have to go into the witness box under oath and say that, between 1991 and 2003, notwithstanding the close relationship with their neighbours, they intended to take the Charltons' land from them," he said.
He was continuing his opening in the hearing of the dispute between the two families over ownership of the 0.2 acre plot with an alleged value of between €1 million and €2 million.
The Kennys claim it was part of their garden, while the Charltons say they have owned it since 1971 and it has been part of the scenic amenity of their property.
On the second day of the action, Mr Fitzsimons went through the title deeds of the Charltons' property, Maple Tree House, which they bought in 1971. The deeds show ownership of Maple Tree House was assigned to the Charltons in November 1971 and this included an area known as Quarryfield, part of which is the Gorse Hill land, he said.
The Charltons bought it from the renowned postcard photographer, John Hinde, counsel said. Mr Hinde also sold, at the same time, an adjoining property which was later to become the site of Pat Kenny's home, the Anchorage. The Kennys bought the Anchorage in 1988 and built a completely new home, also called the Anchorage, on part of the site in the early 1990s.
The Charltons would give evidence they enjoyed the view provided by Gorse Hill, that Mrs Charlton used it as a short cut to Dalkey village and that some gardening was done on the land by one of the other neighbours.
The evidence would show the Charltons were "oblivious of any attempt whatsoever" by the Kennys to take possession of the land and that the Charltons were perfectly entitled to leave the land as a visual amenity for themselves, counsel said.
The case continues tomorrow.