A dispute among members of the gay community over who owns a £500,000 Georgian building in Dublin's Temple Bar has been settled in Dublin Circuit Civil Court.
The four-storey property, the Hirschfeld Centre, in Fownes Street was formerly the hub of gay and lesbian activities in the late 1970s and early 1980s but, following a fire in the early 1990s, it closed. Under the settlement, Hirschfeld Enterprises Ltd, in whose name the property is registered, gains possession of the building and will pay Outhouse - an umbrella organisation for gay people in Ireland - £50,000.
Mr Martin Hayden, counsel for Hirschfeld Enterprises, told Judge Liam Devally all legal proceedings previously in existence over who was entitled to the proceeds of sale of the property could now be struck out.
Earlier the court was told Senator David Norris held a 60 per cent share of Hirschfeld Enterprises Ltd, which, in 1982 bought the property for £69,500 as a centre for lesbians and gays.
Mr Hayden told the court Mr Norris and a number of other members of the gay community had personally guaranteed bank loans to fund the purchase.
Judge Devally was told the Hirschfeld shareholders attempted to sell the building but an interested builder had withdrawn when he learned there were legal proceedings between the company and the National Lesbian and Gay Federation over ownership of the property.
Mr Frank Callanan SC, for the federation, told the court his clients claimed Hirschfeld Enterprises Ltd was a legal device to enable the purchase of the property and for it to be held in the general interest of the gay community and in trust for the federation.