By Gordon Deegan

A judge told a court today, Thursday, April 23, that a land boundary case between two brothers-in-law and businessmen “is one of these Wanderly Wagon cases”.

At Gort District Court today, the judge made his comment as a planned visit to the site of the dispute had to be adjourned for two months due to Covid-19 restrictions on the operation of the courts.

Wanderly Wagon was a renowned children’s series broadcast on RTE between 1967 and 1982 that followed human and puppet characters as they travelled around Ireland. Some of its best known character included Rory; O’Brien; Judge – who was a dog; Fortycoats; and Mr. Crow.

The court room was empty today apart from the real-life Judge Patrick Durcan; his registrar; four solicitor; and Garda Sergeant Daithí Cronin. All defendants and witnesses were told not to attend and all cases were adjourned.

Asked by Sgt. Cronin should defendants be asked to attend at the next court at the end of May, Judge Durcan said that they should be.

Judge Durcan said: “Yes, a bit of common sense has to prevail and reality has to start coming home.” He stated that the defendants could wait for their cases “in the fine square out there”.

“If it is a wet day, they can bring their umbrellas,” he added.

The well-travelled judge ruled on a dispute concerning a wall in an unrelated Gort case last year where he also made a site visit.

Judge Durcan was due to visit the boundary in the land dispute today after additional time was required for engineers for both sides to agree on a boundary.

He had told a previous sitting of the current case: “There is a problem in this area – there is too much concentration on walls and too little appreciation of bridges. There is a need for bridges in this case.”

Judge Durcan previously told the brothers-in-law and neighbours in the case to resolve the boundary dispute in order to avoid “bile and bitterness” between them.

It is wake-up time for both of you. Get on with life and don’t be wasting your money with this kind of carry on.

He said: “I am imploring you to sort this out. It is very important that neighbours can live in peace and ease of each other. Otherwise a substantial amount of money will be spent on this.”

The defendant and his son are facing a charge of common assault on the complainant in Gort on February 23, 2019.

The two defendants – who operate a family fuel business – are contesting the charge, and the solicitor for the son, Olivia Lynch, previously told the court that her client was trying to act as “peace maker” on the day.

Judge Durcan warned the participants in the case that they will end up going to their bank manager for a new mortgage to finance all the legal and professional costs if a civil case around the boundary ever goes to the circuit court.

Judge Durcan told them that “engineers charge by the hour” and “barristers by the inch”.