The High Court has permanently blocked an attempt by a businessman to use the park in Dartmouth Square in south Dublin as a public car park.
The court yesterday granted Dublin City Council an order permanently restraining Noel O'Gara and a company, Marble and Granite Tiles Ltd, the registered owner of the park in Ranelagh, from parking more than two vehicles in it.
Both vehicles must be the property of either Mr O'Gara, of Ballinahowen Court, Athlone, Co Westmeath, a director of the company, or of the company itself, Mr Justice Michael Hanna directed.
Mr O'Gara had argued that the planning regulations were unconstitutional, and that he had "a right to invite his friends on to his land with their cars for social occasions".
Granting the order, Mr Justice Hanna said he was satisfied that the use of the park as a car park was a material change of use requiring planning permission and for which no planning application had been made. It was not a question of who owned the land, but rather one about the particular use of the land at Dartmouth Square.
He told Mr O'Gara that providing a parking service for people, paid or unpaid, was different from inviting friends around to park their vehicles on his property.
Mr O'Gara was "no less subject to the law than the rest of us", the judge said.
In response to Mr O'Gara, the judge said the planning laws were presumed constitutional unless they were successfully challenged and set aside by the Supreme Court.
Mr O'Gara, he noted, had had the option of testing the constitutionality of the 1963 Planning Act in the courts but had declined to take such an action. The judge also ordered that Mr O'Gara pay costs of €1,000.
Earlier, Mr O'Gara, who was representing himself, said he had come to court to "defend his right to enter his land, with or without acquaintances", without hindrances from anyone. He said it was outrageous that he could not bring cars on to what is his property.
"Why should I look for permission? It is my property, and it should not matter if I bring on three cars or 23 cars," he said. "Daniel O'Connell, Parnell, and all the other great men who fought so hard for the land ownership to be given to the Irish people turned in their graves in 1963 when a craven Irish parliament handed over the effective use of land in Ireland to a bureaucracy of planners in councils controlled by the politicians themselves," he said.
Mr O'Gara said he did not want to "go down the road" of a legal challenge to the planning Acts, as it could cost him thousands of euro in legal expenses.
The judge, Mr O'Gara argued, had failed to "do his duty" or to follow the Constitution. Mr Justice Hanna strongly rejected such claims.
An attempt by Mr O'Gara to read a statement in relation to a previous court hearing in the matter, heard by another judge, was refused by Mr Justice Hanna on the grounds it was a "vexatious rant". Mr O'Gara also argued that the council had broken its own rules by opening Dartmouth Square park as a public park. That had gone against the wishes of the previous owner, PJ Darley, from whom he bought the land for €11,000 last December, he said. A structure had been erected in the park without planning permission, he further stated.
Afterwards Mr O'Gara said he was "disappointed" with the decision and intended to appeal it to the Supreme Court.
Earlier, Carol O'Farrell, for Dublin City Council, said the council applied for the injunction against Mr O'Gara last month after Mr O'Gara offered all-day parking at €10 per car. He later offered free parking.
Dartmouth Square park was zoned to provide recreational open space, council planning official Rory O'Byrne said in an affidavit.