Injuction brought by owner of car park stopping cars entering

A high court injunction has been sought by the owner of a Ballyfermot car park in an attempt to prevent several people from entering the property.

The car park behind the old Gala Cinema building on Ballyfermot Road, owned by Kaifan Ltd, is claimed by the owners to have been taken possession illegally by a former tenant, Thomas Kearney, at the end of February.

Mr Kearney is claimed to have illegally taken possession of the car park behind the Ballyfermot Homesavers on Thursday, February 26, a day after Blackwater Asset Management had taken possession for the owner of the building in front.

The car park is situated behind the former Gala Cinema building, which closed in 1980 after 25 years, and was also previously a snooker and bingo hall.

Barrister for Kaifan John O’Regan was granted short service of injunction papers seeking the removal of Mr Kearney and “persons unknown” from the property but the mater was adjourned until next week as only Kaifan was represented.

Judge Brian O’Regan said that Mr Kearney was an old tenant of the car park but had failed to pay any rent on a four-year lease, which amounted to around €220,000.

The former tenant was given three months’ notice in October 2025 to vacate the property before Blackwater took possession two weeks ago.

Blackwater security operative Paul Comsa stated that there appeared to be at least four businesses in the car park trading independently of Kearney.

Blackwater took possession at 4:30am on February 26, according to Comsa, and Kearney arrived at 8:45am with other individuals.

A separate group of people arrived later that day and requested that Blackwater leave before informing they would “come back and make [them] leave, one way or another.”

A group appeared at the car park entrance in the evening, one individual carrying a chainsaw, and attempts were made to cut the lock.

Gardaí were called and arrived after individuals had jumped the gate and opened the lock from the other side.

Mr Kearney’s sister, Siobhán Kearney arrived with papers which she said proved Thomas had a right of ownership of the yard, but officers noted they could not interfere and described it as a civil dispute.