A COUNTY council has been ordered to pay €750 to its local tidy towns committee after a District Court judge described the decision to prosecute a man over a box being left at a bring-bank as “extremely overzealous”.
At Mullingar District Court, Judge Séamus Hughes described the decision of Westmeath County Council to prosecute Bernard Byrne (44), of Riverside, Kinnegad, as typical of a Civil Service which had “no appreciation of public relations”.
He said there was no proportionality in the case and he could not convict Mr Byrne. Instead he penalised the council.
After viewing pictures of Mr Byrne’s wife and their son last April “carefully selecting” the right bin for each of their large amount of bottles, he said they should have been commended for their meticulous recycling.
They were seen putting their basket into the car, which was registered to Mr Byrne, but the judge said the proportionate response after they left a shoe-box sized box on top of one of the bins would have been to courteously write to them, reminding them to kindly not leave boxes behind.
Mr Byrne told the court that they always used the bottle bank and always brought home the basket and boxes they use.
The case was taken against Mr Byrne because he was the registered owner of the vehicle, but it was his wife and son who were at the bring-bank.
The judge said it was the worst case of zealous prosecution he had seen in all his years as a solicitor or judge and showed the council’s “jackboot tactics” for what was “in theory” an offence.
He said that if gardaí prosecuted with similar zeal, his court would be full 24 hours a day.
Solicitor for the council Vicky McCarthy said that despite the presence of stickers reminding people not to leave boxes and bags, when one person left something, others followed and a lot of rubbish built up.
Sometimes this would blow on to the road and create litter, she added.
Judge Hughes questioned the need for the prosecution when it was clear the Byrnes had been making a great effort.
“Has this country got to the stage that public servants have so little to do?” he asked. “Extremely overzealous prosecution policies are being pursued here.” He pointed out that local authorities and their staff were funded fully by the public.
“They serve the taxpayers and are in a very privileged position compared to the community where people are out of their minds with financial stress,” he added.
Judge Hughes said he tried to have a balanced court and the proportionate response for him was to ask the council to make the charitable donation to the local Tidy Towns Committee within a month.
He said that if he could have awarded costs to Mr Byrne, he would have.