A Co Clare quarry at the centre of a High Court action has been sold by a Nama-appointed receiver to a company in the Lagan Asphalt group, a judge has heard.

Whelans Limestone Quarries, producers of materials for road construction from the quarry at Fountain Cross, Ennis, has been taken over by Lagan Bitumen, Rossa Fanning BL, told the court.

Mr Fanning had acted for the receiver to Whelans, a notice party in the court case, and said he was now acting for the new purchaser to provide continuity.

Last February, Ms Justice Marie Baker found An Bord Pleanala had not adopted the correct approach when it determined the quarry was exempt from planning requirements because it was in operation before 1964 when the country's first planning law was introduced.

The case, brought by local residents against the board and the local council, was back before the judge when she adjourned the making of orders to allow the parties consider draft orders.

Injunction

The court heard separate proceedings seeking an injunction halting quarrying have also been adjourned.

The case concerned part of a 28-hectare site which the owners argued was in use as a quarry before 1964. Their evidence included a newspaper cutting from 1955 announcing an increase in the number of jobs at the site from 15 to 28.

Whelans employed 150 people in 2012.

The residents sought orders quashing the board’s decision and an injunction stopping use.

The judge found the board did not determine the nature of the pre-1964 use of the quarry land and compare it to present use to ascertain whether that use could properly be called a continuation of an established or authorised use.