Islanders ‘reluctant’ to sell property to ‘outsider’

Islanders reluctant to sell property to ‘outsider’ sergeant, court hears


Trevor Quinn

A MAYO garda sergeant who was transferred from Ballina to the Aran Islands and is suing the Garda Commissioner and the State for expenses totaling more than €32,000 gave evidence last week at the Circuit Civil Court.
Retired garda sergeant Christopher Joyce (60) told the court he experienced considerable difficulties and stress finding a new home on the Aran Islands during the period when he was moved from Ballina to his new posting at Kilronan on Inishmore.
As a result of the transfer in 2000, Mr Joyce was responsible for policing Kilronan as well as the smaller nearby islands of Inishmaan and Inisheer.
He told Court president Mr Justice Matthew Deery, “There is a reluctance by the islanders to sell property to outsiders,“ adding, “I searched for sites for a new home but found none for sale.”
In 2003 when he finally located a site for sale he faced the prospect of huge issues over legal title.
Further complications arose when he was refused planning permission due to the fact that he was not a native islander as stipulated in Galway County Council’s development plan.
Mr Joyce’s barrister, Cliona Kimber, informed the court that it was not possible for a non-native to buy a house on the islands. Mr Joyce had sold his home in Ballina before moving to a new home in Glenard Avenue, Salthill, Co Galway.
Counsel for the Garda Comissioner and the Minister for Justice Joe Jeffers informed the court Sgt Joyce’s lodgings, travel and subsistence entitlements had all been fully paid. Mr Jeffers denied that Mr Joyce was entitled to any further money.
Mr Joyce informed the court he had received €7,963 lodging expenses over a 15-month period after his transfer from Ballina. He was, however, suing for house-purchase expenses of more than €17,000 and further additional costs of €14,000 related to house-sale expenses and furniture-removal costs.
He said a 1998 garda directive entitled him and any other transferring Garda to a full reimbursement of his removal expenses, but alleged that this had wrongfully been refused.
Mr Joyce said that this refusal caused him distress and inconvenience as well as severe financial hardship. He said he suffered sleep deprivation, loss of appetite and irritability during this period of time.
Insp Anne Wedgeworth of the Garda Finance Directorate told the court that it was decided that Mr Joyce was not entitled to house-purchase expenses because the home he acquired lay  outside a permitted 15-mile limit from the Garda station in Salthill. The court heard the limit was not included in the 1998 Garda directive and it referred to previous Garda regulations.
Insp Wedgeworth said Mr Joyce made his claim for house-sale expenses after he withdrew his initial house-purchase expenses claim in 2004. His house-sale expenses application was then outdated, and as a result Mr Joyce would have had to forfeit his lodgings allowance for a period of nine months. Insp Wedgworth said that Mr Joyce was, however, unwilling to do this.
Judge Deery reserved judgment.