A three-judge Court of Appeal has dismissed a farmer’s appeal in relation to his 147-acre farm and home in Co Meath.

Donal Keane and his wife Frederique appealed a High Court dismissal, which they made against Ulster Bank Ireland to whom they owe €1.7m in loan payments.

The couple, who are also a barrister and solicitor respectively, are the registered owners of a property known as Camelton Stud, which comprises a farm with a dwelling house near Summerhill, Co Meath.

They acquired the farm in 1996 from Donal Keane’s parents, who had purchased the property in 1975 for IR£350,000.

In 2006 and 2007, the plaintiffs in this case borrowed various sums from the bank totalling some €1.7m and they provided security for their borrowings by way of a mortgage and charge on the Camelton Stud.

From December 2010 onwards, the loans went into default and it would seem that over the course of the next year or so, negotiations took place between the parties with a view to resolving matters, but these proved unsuccessful.

Title issue

At some time prior to summer 2012, the plaintiffs said that they became aware of a title issue with Camelton.

The plaintiffs’ evidence in this regard is that the entrance to Camelton from the public road, together with some 60m to 100m of the entrance driveway to the house, are not encompassed within the folios owned by the Keanes and are in fact located on a neighbouring folio.

Arising from this, the plaintiffs said in pleadings, affidavits and submissions, that Camelton is “unsaleable and accordingly has a zero valuation”.

In his judgement in the Court of Appeal, Justice Seamus Noonan described the action as “self-sabotage”.

“The only plausible explanation for such an act of self-sabotage is that it was an artifice designed to create difficulty for the bank in enforcing its security.

“This impression is fortified by the remarkable fact that in the 12 years since they were allegedly alerted to this title defect, which is according to them catastrophic, the plaintiffs have done nothing to try to address it.”

The judge found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate any error in the judgment of the High Court and the appeal was dismissed.

The judge also awarded the bank the full costs of the appeal.