There were angry exchanges at Donegal Circuit yesterday when an American widow claimed that one of three men in dispute with her over a 100-yard right of way to a beach was prompted by an attitude to the English.
The beach, Drumnacraig Strand, is renowned locally for its beauty.
US-based attorney Maureen Wharton's counsel, Mr Richard Lyons BL, told Donegal Circuit Court that the land at the centre of the row was bought in 1964 by her husband.
Mr Lyons added: "He and his parents were English and that appears to be a point of acrimony with at least one of the defendants."
But Mr Seamus Gunn, solicitor for the three men, Mr Michael Carr, Mr John Kelly and Mr Ignatius McIntyre, told Judge Matthew Deery: "It is an outlandish statement that the nationality of the plaintiff has some relevance to these proceedings. It has no relevance at all." The defendants were accompanied in court by Mr Niall Blaney, Independent TD.
Ms Wharton, who divides her time between the Republic and a home in Houston, Texas, is seeking to have the men banned from trespassing on her land beside the beach on the Fanad Peninsula.
She is also seeking an order restraining the men from building a roadway or car park on the land or entering it with any vehicle.
The court heard that Mr Carr, Mr Kelly and Mr McIntyre constructed without permission a road for vehicles where there was once a grass and sand track through the land to the beach.
Mr Lyons said: "They dumped four lorry loads of stone and effectively built a highway." Their action, he claimed, was "totally vexatious" and aimed at preventing Ms Wharton's enjoyment of her land.
He said Ms Wharton denied claims by the defendants that four gates and a fence erected by her were designed to indicate that it was a private estate and to block public access to the beach. The fencing and gates - which could be opened by the public - were to keep in grazing animals.
Ms Wharton had no objection to people continuing a tradition of having pedestrian access across the land to the beach. But she objected to a "motorway" being constructed for vehicles where there had only ever been a narrow track. Mr Gunn said his clients were only attempting to protect public right of access to the strand, a right which had been in existence "from time immemorial". It was a right which was being "eliminated by stealth".
Judge Deery adjourned the case to a date yet to be fixed for a full hearing on being given assurances by both sides. The men said that, in the meantime, they would not carry out any further work on the stone roadway they had constructed. Ms Wharton agreed to continue to permit access to pedestrians.