Eyre Sq case may end up back where it started

by Frank Farragher THE five year legal wrangle between the City Council and the company originally contracted to carry out the revamp of Eyre Square could now end up where it started – before an arbitrator.

City councillors will be briefed at their meeting on Monday night on ‘what happens next’ in the long running saga between the local authority and Samuel Kingston Construction Limited.

This week, councillors received copies of the 60 page Supreme Court judgment delivered by Mr. Justice J. O’Donnell on March 25 last in which he set aside previous arbitration and High Court rulings in favour of the contractor.

The judgment is still being examined by the legal teams from the Council and the contractor – however, if it does return to arbitration, a new arbitrator will have to be appointed, the Supreme Court has ruled.

Mr. Justice O’Donnell outlined in his judgment where the matter would go from here. “If, in the light of this determination, the parties cannot themselves resolve this long running dispute, then the arbitration will have to proceed before a new arbitrator,” he said.

One of the grounds advanced in the City Council appeal to the Supreme Court was that the arbitrator, Geoffrey F. Hawker, had fallen asleep during part of the arbitration process.

The City Council also stated in their appeal that the arbitrator had not acted properly when he requested the solicitors for Samuel Kingston to enter an appearance on his behalf at the Supreme Court hearing.

Mr. Justice O’Donnell said that most fair minded people would know that a ‘momentary drowsiness is something which can occur’ and he also added that ‘human experience shows that being awake is no guarantee that the listener is alert’.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune