Three brothers have won a dispute with a cousin over their entitlement, by adverse possession, to ownership of 34 acres of land in Co Galway.
Fergal, Pat and Aonghus Hassett, who claimed their uncle Allan Keegan left the land to them in a 1999 will, appealed after Táilte Éireann refused to register them as full owners of the lands at Tiernascragh in southeast Co Galway.
The brothers’ appeal was taken against the register of title and against Claire Keegan, who said she kept horses on the land. Keegan disputed their claim but did not participate in the appeal proceedings.
In a recently published Circuit Court judgment, Judge Gerard Meehan ruled the brothers were entitled to be registered as owners of the land, comprising two parts, one of 22 acres and one of 12 acres, as a result of adverse possession.
RM Block
He said Thomas Keegan was registered as full owner of the lands in 1906 and was married to Margaret Keegan, née Nevin.
A widow with two sons, Patrick Bohan and John Bohan, from her first marriage, she owned a separate farm. Thomas and Margaret Keegan lived on her separate farm with her two children and their own eight children, of whom Allan was the eldest.
Thomas Keegan died intestate in 1956, predeceased by his son Ambrose. His wife inherited a one-third share in his land and their seven surviving children each got a one-seventh share of the remainder.
Margaret Keegan died in 1963 and left a will leaving all her property to John Bohan.
Allan Keegan died in November 2002. In his will, dated March 1999, he left the 34 acres to the three plaintiffs as tenants in common in equal shares.
They argued, as Allan Keegan’s successors in title, they were entitled to adverse possession of the land. They claimed Allan Keegan exclusively and continuously occupied the land, adverse to the interests of his siblings, from Thomas Keegan’s death in 1956 and they inherited the lands via his 1999 will. It was claimed Allan Keegan had farmed the land with his father.
Pat Hassett said he worked on the land helping his uncle Allan and, from 2002 onwards, the three plaintiffs received rent for the lands.
Dan Hassett, executor of Allan Keegan’s estate, said Claire Keegan opposed the land being registered in favour of the Hassetts and, after they appealed Tailte Éireann’s refusal of registration, she “went in on the lands”.
Claire Keegan’s case was that Allan Keegan never acquired adverse possession, was not in continuous and exclusive occupation of the land and was “squatting” on it. There were various issues between family members, including a dispute between her father, Thomas Vincent Keegan, and Allan in 1972, she said. Her father had a celery business on the land in 1966.
The plaintiffs are living in Spain, Belfast and Derry and have never occupied or farmed the land, she said. She was in possession of the land for the previous three years and had racehorses there for about eight years, she said.
The judge said there was “no clear or convincing” evidence about who was in occupation of the land from 1956. However, there was clear evidence that the land was rented from 1999 to 2023, and other evidence it was probably rented from 1995.
Most importantly, Allan Keegan, and later his estate, acted as landlord in all the letting agreements which demonstrated both factual possession and the required intention to possess, the judge said.
There was no evidence of contesting this entitlement until Claire Keegan objected to the registration application in November 2022, he said.
Applying the relevant legal test, he found the plaintiffs had established a single continuous 12-year period during the past 30 years in which Allan Keegan and/or his estate was in exclusive possession of the land. The plaintiffs were entitled to be registered as full owners of the land, he ruled.
