Residents of Anna cotty, a historic angling village in Co Limerick, want a block of luxury apartments knocked down, claiming they encroach on a traditional fishing ground.
The residents and members of the Shannon, Mulcair and District Anglers Association have served notice on Martin Kenny and Annacotty Mills that they are seeking an injunction restraining the obstruction of and interference in a public right of way, fishing grounds and "use of the area where the apartments now are".
Annacotty Mills insists it has complied with the planning permission. Work has begun on the £2 million block of 30 apartments, on the banks of the Mulcair river, a salmon fishery and Shannon tributary. The apartments are for sale from £110,000 to £160,000.
Judge Sean O Laoire has directed that the papers be served on the developer for a hearing at Limerick Circuit Court on October 3rd. Work on the apartments was stopped by the council in January, after a miller's cottage attached to the former flour mill was accidentally demolished following damage by fire last August.
The listed building, which was to be renovated under the original planning permission granted last year, is now being restored and Annacotty Mills intends to resume work on the apartments on Monday.
Mr Jim Duffy, chairman of the Annacotty Joint Residents Action Committee, said it contested that "the natural right of way, which has been there for hundreds of years, has now been taken away from us" and must be restored. "If that means knocking the apartments, then so be it," he said.
The group engaged a surveyor whose survey of the disputed riverbank, based on measurements taken from an Ordnance Survey map, suggest that "the bottom of the bank is now up to four metres farther east than it was prior to development. Despite this, access to and use of the riverbank is quite obviously restricted by the development."
Annacotty Mills says it will remove rubble encroaching on the river but intends to buttress the river bank with "a boulder-type rock". A spokesman said the company was in compliance with the planning permission and "the building proper is in the confines of the bank".
Mr Duffy said the group intends to present statements from 60 anglers and 25 residents in court asserting that a right of way exists.
Mr Andy McCallion of Mulcair Anglers Association, said the bank was traditionally an angling area for older club members, because of its ease of access from the village. "These people cannot fish any more because there is no access for them. As well as that it was a prime angling location."
He said the traditional fishing right was that anglers on the riverbank had a seven-foot right of way from the edge of the bank.