Supreme Court refuses appeal over claim conservation status of man’s land lost him €1.5m

A man who claimed he suffered losses of €1.5 million due to the alleged illegal designation of some of his land as a candidate Special Area of Conservation (cSAC) has failed to get an appeal over a decision to throw out his case.
Harry McHugh owns land at Cashelgoan, Port Noo, Co Donegal, a small part of which was designated cSAC in 1997. It was part of a vast area known as west of Ardara/Maas Road which was designated for this purpose, to protect the habitat, animal and plant species.
At that time, Mr McHugh’s uncle, Peter McHugh, owned the land which Harry inherited upon Peter’s death in 2002. However, his uncle had not challenged the cSAC designation in 1997.
In 2003, Harry McHugh received a notification from the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government stating the cSAC boundaries were to be changed.
Mr McHugh was also told that if he wanted to make any significant changes to farming on the lands, he would require the written agreement of the minister.
He objected to the designation and sought scientific evidence for it. In 2006, he was notified of another change in the designation and also given details of how he could object to it as well as details of a scheme for compensation where farmers were affected by the designation.
Mr McHugh raised objections and sought compensation but was unsuccessful since in the meantime he had applied for approval for afforestation of 28.73 hectares of his lands.
That application was refused because it would adversely alter or detrimentally damage the area of cSAC.
Mr McHugh brought High Court proceedings in 2008 claiming he sustained losses of €1.5 million.
Mr McHugh had argued the receipt of the two notifications in 2003 and 2006 about the changes gave rise to his cause of action.
He claimed damages over the refusal of his afforestation application. He also claimed the selection criteria used in the designation process were incorrectly applied and in breach of law.
Until 2014 nothing happened with the case followed by four more years in which Mr McHugh delivered a number of amended statements of claim.
It eventually went before Mr Justice David Nolan who struck it out last April.
The judge ruled his basis for bringing the case was misconceived since, in the judge’s opinion, Mr McHugh did not have legal standing (locus standi) to do so.
When he became the beneficial owner of the land in 2002 and onwards, his legal standing was not created by virtue of the receipt of the notification of changes of boundaries in 2003 and 2006 because the changes of boundary did not affect his property, the judge said.
He also found his case had been brought outside the time limits for bringing litigation, or statute barred.
Mr McHugh sought a direct appeal to the Supreme Court, rather than going to the Court of Appeal, on the basis of exceptional circumstances of the case.
In a written determination, a three-judge panel of the Supreme Court said the decision of the High Court involved the application of well established principles regarding locus standi and proceedings being brought out of time.
These matters are case specific and are not matters of general public importance, the court said.
Mr McHugh also failed to set out why an appeal should be permitted in the interests of justice.