A man who spent the holiday period in Mountjoy Prison has walked free after he agreed not to trespass on land where 50 social housing units are to be built.
Brendan Gildea from Brookside, Magheranan Letterkenny, Co Donegal was jailed shortly before Christmas after he was found to be in contempt of High Court orders not to trespass or prevent access to land in Kiltoy, Letterkenny, Co Donegal.
The property is owned by CR Renaissance Properties Ltd who are selling it to Cluid Housing Association in a €6.2m deal, which intends to build 50 social housing units.
The court heard the land was purchased by Brendan Gildea Ltd, a company owned and operated by Brendan Gildea, in 2006.
A receiver was appointed over the assets of Brendan Gildea Ltd in 2011, who sold the land to CR Renaissance in 2014.
Represented by Niall O'Neill BL, the owners and a related company Roarty Developments Ltd obtained orders against Mr Gildea and his son Noel of Glenview Close, Lismonaghan, Letterkenny.
The injunctions were sought after the Gildeas allegedly placed a container on the lands, which put the proposed sale of the property at risk, in June of last year.
A ‘no trespass’ sign, allegedly signed by the Gildeas, was also placed on the site, it was claimed.
Injunctions
The applicant's solicitors further received letters from Noel Gildea alleging that parts of the lands had been purchased by his father.
Last July, the High Court granted various orders, including injunctions compelling the Gildea’s to remove the container and cease trespassing and blocking access to the land or from interfering with the sale process.
However, the applicants returned to court in September claiming that the Gildeas had made no effort to comply with the order and were in contempt of Court.
The matter was mentioned before the court on several occasions, but on December 18th, the Gildeas were committed to Mountjoy Prison after Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds found them in contempt of court.
Noel Gildea purged his contempt after agreeing to comply with the orders shortly before Christmas and was released from Mountjoy Prison.
At the High Court on Friday, Brendan Gildea, who represented himself in the proceedings, gave a sworn undertaking before Mr Justice Charles Meenan to comply with the orders made last July.
Mr O’Neill told the court the container had been removed from the land, which could now be accessed by his clients.
Counsel said there were other issues of concern including that Brendan Gildea had made an application for adverse possession, under section 49 of the 1969 Registration of Title Act, in respect of the site.
That application counsel said had been rejected by the Property Registration Authority. His client wanted that application withdrawn.
Counsel also told the court that a summons server used by his client to try an effect personal service of the orders made in July had to withdraw their services after receiving "a torrent of death threats", and threats to their family and homes on Facebook.
Mr Justice Meenan said he was reserving the issue of the costs of the proceedings.