You get a better class of land row in Dalkey -- though no less bitter and acrimonious for that.

At an early stage in the sore and ill-tempered legal battle between Late Late Show presenter Pat Kenny and his once close neighbours, the Charltons, a judge ordered that professional horticulturalists be sent in to examine the disputed site.

But in the seaside enclave where Ireland's nouveau riche live cheek by jowl with Dublin's old gentility, the wealthy residents are getting sniffy about this corrosive multi-million euro fight over land. The words "squatters' rights" and "Dalkey" appearing in the same sentence in the quality papers has been a muffin choker in breakfast rooms overlooking Dublin Bay.

Like the lawyers, the local residents prefer to call the central claim made by Pat Kenny and his wife by its more neutral legal term "adverse possession" rather than the grubby shorthand "squatters rights" with its echoes of matted dreadlocks and dogs on ropes.

At issue is a piece of land known as Gorse Hill just up the road from picturesque Bulloch Harbour, a rocky outcrop which runs down to the cliff overlooking Dublin Bay.

Gorse Hill is at the back of Pat Kenny's understated but well-appointed pile, The Anchorage.

The case put by retired solicitor Gerard Charlton, a 72-year-old with heart problems and hypertension, and his wife, Meave, who is similarly afflicted with poor health, is that they own Gorse Hill. The couple -- once close personal friends with the Kennys -- say they acquired a leasehold interest in their property at Harbour Road in 1971, which included his home, Maple Tree House, the lands previously known as the Quarry Field and the small section of land adjoining the Quarry Field, namely Gorse Hill.

Mr Charlton's claim is that when Pat Kenny and his wife, Cathy, moved in down the road in 1988, they welcomed the Kennys into the "bosom" of both the community and their family, and allowed the Kennys to use the Gorse Hill land. They also allowed Mr Kenny to replace a pedestrian gate at the entrance to the Gorse Hill land, Mr Charlton said at an early court hearing.

Mr Charlton claimed in the same High Court application that relations deteriorated in July of 2006 when Mr Kenny refused to give him the code for the digital keypad installed at the new electronic gate and also, Mr Charlton alleged, when he did gain access, the gate had been bolted behind him which prevented him leaving the property for some time.

Mr Charlton claimed during the November 2007 application to have the case admitted to the Commercial Court that Pat Kenny and his wife Cathy had behaved towards him in a way that was "physically threatening, offensive and deeply upsetting."

The Kennys are claiming adverse possession or "squatters rights." They will claim they had possession of the disputed lands for 12 years and more, and thereby have become the owners.

The Charltons say that at all times since 1971 they have been entitled to the legal and beneficial leasehold, and subsequently, the freehold interest in Gorse Hill.

After a significant number of hearings sorting out legal issues such as discovery of documents, the case reaches end game on Tuesday morning when a three- to four-week hearing will begin.

Both sides have legal teams laden with the best senior counsel money can buy and the final legal bill -- which may end up being paid entirely by the losing party -- could reach €500,000.

The dispute has been marked by a degree of animosity which has been the subject of comment by High Court judge Mr Justice Frank Clarke on three occasions. In September 2007, the Judge commented that the case was marked with a considerable degree of acrimony on both sides.

"Unfortunately it would appear that this level of acrimony has spilled over to an unusual degree into the positions which have been adopted by both parties' solicitors," he said.

The judge made similar critical comments on two successive days during last week's last-ditch effort by Pat Kenny and his wife to have the Charltons' case dismissed.

Eoghan Fitzsimons, counsel for the Charltons, told the High Court hearing, "They (the Kennys) had been regarded as great friends -- they were brought into the bosom of the Charlton family. Now there is a sense of shock and terrible betrayal that the defendants are seeking to take from them land that is not theirs.

"The case has accentuated the shock. My clients, who are not in good health, want closure on this affair which is causing them great distress," the senior counsel said.

The application by Pat Kenny to have the case thrown out failed, but the judge said it was unsatisfactory that photographs of the land in question, in the possession of the Charltons, had not been made available to the Kenny's legal team during the discovery of documents.

The judge said they should not have been held back but said there was insufficient evidence to show it was a deliberate or concerted effort to hide them.

However, Mr Charlton was criticised for trying to control the case himself and instructing his lawyers to withhold the photos. Quoting the old saying, the judge said: "One should not buy a dog and bark yourself."

In the background to the case is the development potential of the lands that lie between Pat Kenny and the sea. Mr Charlton's son-in-law, estate agent Corry McMahon, owns two substantial properties that lie just behind the disputed Gorse Hill section. Given the proper planning permissions being achieved, the blocks of land, if amalgamated, could be worth many millions of euro.

In 2007, Pat Kenny objected to a building project proposed by Mr McMahon and his wife, Gearoidin Charlton, who wanted to demolish their house called "Yonder" and replace it with two larger houses. An Bord Pleanala eventually ruled in Mr McMahon's favour.

The squatters' rights case already looks like becoming something of a circus, attracting the packed public gallery and intense media scrutiny usually associated with high profile murder trials.

The case certainly has all the ingredients. Kenny may be RTE's highest-paid presenter but he is an intensely private man.

A stint in the witness box under cross-examination about neighbourly squabbles won't be a welcome development for Mr Kenny. It is for precisely this reason that the case is "must-see" courtroom fare. Similarly, his soignee wife Cathy can expect her dress and demeanour to be put under ruthless scrutiny by the less fair-faced female hacks.

And then there is the central issue of the case itself. The strong grip land has on the Irish psyche will ensure this case is followed across the country by everyone from the small farmers in the west to the wealthy burghers of Dalkey and Killiney.

There will be great curiosity to discover who actually owns the little rocky outcrop called Gorse Hill.

- Jerome Reilly