has been involved a long-running dispute<\/a> over the new building at the rear and side of Farrelly\u2019s home. <\/p>\nThe structure overlooks the back of Revill\u2019s home by Burrow Beach near Howth and throws his garden and the rear of his house into shadow.<\/p>\n
The dispute ended up in court, which heard that the talks could not find a solution and the case is due back in the new year. Farrelly\u2019s lawyers claim if he did make a mistake in building the extension, it was a genuine one.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IZY2JX2W7RCZHKCYACLRTTXWJM.JPG\")
A view of the extension from Jackie Revill’s back garden on Burrow Road in Sutton. Photograph: Alan Betson <\/p>\n
Co Clare-based solicitor John Casey says he has seen a dramatic increase in disputes between neighbours over the past couple of years. Speaking generally about disputes \u2013 and not about a specific case \u2013 he attributes the increase, in part, to legislation governing harassment that was changed in 2023. <\/p>\n
\u201cPreviously, if you believed somebody was threatening you, you would go to the guards and they would decide whether to prosecute or not,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut now people can bring a civil application. If a client had come in to me in the past, I would have said, \u2018Go to the guards\u2019 \u2013 but now the guards say, \u2018Go to your solicitor.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He says there is a \u201cdeluge\u201d of such cases now coming to court in Clare.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn court today, the list had maybe five or six of them \u2013 and they generally take a considerable period of time too. By their very nature, everyone is in court giving their evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Casey\u2019s general advice to rowing neighbours is to avoid court if they can.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you go to court, then whatever sort of relationship there was there with your neighbour is gone \u2013 and you are left still looking over the fence at each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn right-of-way disputes, for example, we say to them: sure, you can go to court, but when it is finally listed the judge will say: \u2018Have you tried to settle this?\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u201cHe could end up making an order that doesn\u2019t suit anybody \u2013 and the costs could be substantial. I like to say you could build a section of the M50 for what it costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always try to talk people out of it. But sometimes it becomes an obsession for them. People want their day in court, despite our advice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Casey says such cases consume a huge amount of a solicitor\u2019s time and are priced accordingly. <\/p>\n
\u201cEven if you are getting paid, it is hard-earned money,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are endless emails, phone calls and meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Mountain](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LCYARDFYSZC33LWSSPJ3EE7GGU.jpg\")
Mountain View Road in Ranelagh, Dublin 6 where two neighbours fell out over a cat named Coco using a neighbouring property as a toilet. Photograph: Chris Maddaloni\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n
Legal observers believe the number of neighbourly disputes ending up before the courts could well increase due to the increased publicity around them. <\/p>\n
Media reports from the courts draw general attention to the ability of people to seek restraining orders through the legal system.<\/p>\n
Before the updating of the law around harassment and restraining orders, home extensions and property boundaries traditionally had been the source of much animosity between neighbours.<\/p>\n
And they still account for a big portion of disputes.<\/p>\n
Barrister Oisin Collins has represented clients in a number of cases covering these types of complaints.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are a lot more aware of their environment and more empowered by social media for remedies,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are able to find out quite quickly, through Google searches and websites like Reddit, what the experience of others has been. In a lot of cases people\u2019s biggest assets are their homes \u2013 and when things start happening that might affect the value of their home, they are more keen to protect it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Collins says there has been an increase in these disputes over recent years \u2013 in tandem with rising property prices and a dysfunctional property market.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are more willing to come to law to protect their property rights,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt could involve an extension, or the playing of music all night by neighbours \u2013 and they feel it is taking value off their home. They don\u2019t have the same flexibility with property they used to have; they can\u2019t just go and buy another house.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says judges are \u201cvery unhappy\u201d with the growth in these cases and they are the \u201cworst kind\u201d historically for courts to have to deal with.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat said, if somebody comes along with a bona-fide action, the case has to be disposed of. Courts just have to get on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Solicitor and senior counsel Bill Holohan has mediated on numerous neighbourly disputes over the years. <\/p>\n
He notes that, by law, solicitors must now advise their clients of the benefits and cost savings that the mediation path offers \u2013 but they don\u2019t always listen.<\/p>\n
He finds people are increasingly quick to anger over \u201cthings like hanging branches and dumping grass cuttings\u201d and puts this down to a \u201ccultural shift\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYears ago \u2013 in our parents\u2019 generation \u2013 you got on with people. Now we have this American-induced psychology of \u2018me and my rights\u2019,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of this growing \u2018me, myself and I\u2019 attitude, there is a lack of community spirit, a lack of willingness to make allowances for others.\u201d<\/p>\n
On top of this, he says, is the traditional Irish attachment to property \u2013 and an inclination to want to argue.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a rebellious bunch of so-and-sos \u2013 just ask the British. We just feel very territorial. It is in our psychological make-up to have a fight,\u201d says Holohan.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes you just have to let people vent \u2013 let them talk to the point of exhaustion. The problem with a court is that it is an inquest into what happened and is focused on identifying blame. The whole purpose of mediation is to focus on solutions for the future. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey might not be entirely overjoyed or hugging going out the door, but it\u2019s their agreement. Whereas you can come out of court and one side is unhappy \u2013 or both sides are unhappy.\u201d<\/p>\n
So what is likely to draw a halt to this \u201cdeluge\u201d of cases? <\/p>\n
Oisin Collins detects that judges are increasingly willing to call out people for being unreasonable in their insistence on taking cases to the bitter end.<\/p>\n
And Holohan points to some recent examples of judges penalising solicitors who have not advised clients as to the availability of mediation in advance of litigation. <\/p>\n
\u201cOnly when judges apply penalties will people sit up and pay notice,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cGood fences make good neighbours\u201d \u2013 so goes the old saying goes. That\u2019s generally deemed to be good…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-191047","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}