Two horticulturists will later this week examine a disputed piece of land adjoining broadcaster Pat Kenny's home in Dalkey, Co Dublin, in the continuing dispute over ownership of the land, the High Court was told yesterday.
The land is known as Gorse Hill and the dispute is between Pat and Cathy Kenny and their next-door neighbours, Gerard Charlton and his wife, Maeve.
The Charltons claim to be the legal owners of the rocky outcrop over which the ownership dispute is being waged.
However, the Kennys contest the Charltons' title and claim any title the Charltons may have had to the property has been extinguished by adverse possession (squatters rights).
Mr Charlton, a retired solicitor, from Maple Trees House, Harbour Road, Dalkey, has rejected the Kennys' claim that they have squatters rights to the property, which can apply where a property has been abandoned for 12 or more years.
Mr Kenny is claiming that he locked the property from public access 16 years ago and that it has been inaccessible since then except by scaling a cliff.
When the case was mentioned yesterday, with a view to considering possible trial dates and other matters, Lyndon MacCann SC, for the Kennys, said their eldest daughter was preparing for exams.
He understood that from mid to late February, she would be sitting mock exams and it would put an unfair and unjust burden on the family for the parents to be giving evidence at such a time.
Mr MacCann asked that a trial date be fixed for next April instead of in the next law term, which ends early next March.
Mr Justice Frank Clarke said he would make case management orders later and he listed the case for mention on January 28th.
Earlier, Eileen Barrington, for the Charltons, said the sides had agreed that there would be an inspection of the disputed property by horticulturists next Friday.