A HIGH Court judge has jailed a man for six weeks over his “wilful, cynical and repeated” failure to obey court orders requiring him to remove 300m (985ft) of road constructed without planning permission. Mr Justice John Quirke also referred papers in the proceedings against Leo Price to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Law Society.
The judge jailed Price over his failure to comply with three separate court orders dating back to 2004 requiring him to remove a road built on lands at Feighcullen, Rathangan, Co Kildare, and to restore the lands to their original condition. The road was constructed without planning permission to provide access to some 16 sites for housing.
Kildare County Council brought the committal proceedings after alleging “nothing” was done by Price since the order was made.
Yesterday, Cormac Ó Dúlacháin SC, for Price, Boston Common, Feighcullen, said his client would remove the road by August 1st, which was accepted by the council as being a reasonable deadline.
Counsel also argued the court was not entitled, in considering whether to jail Price, to take into account evidence from people who had bought sites serviced by the road, including two families living in mobile homes on the site.
Those persons claimed that when buying the sites they were not informed of any problem with the road and would be in extreme difficulties if the road was removed. The sites had been bought between 2003 and 2008, either from Price himself or from individuals who had previously bought sites from him.
Deirdre Hughes, for the council, said the court was entitled to treat their evidence as an aggravating factor in the proceedings.
In his ruling, Mr Justice Quirke said Price was in “serious contempt” and had “abused the processes of the court”. Price had “at the final hour” suddenly claimed he was in a position to comply with the orders but, after six years, the court did not believe him and could not rely on Price to comply.
He also noted evidence by Alan Judge, to whom Price had alleged the road was transferred in 2004, that Mr Judge was never asked by Price about doing anything to remove the road.
The judge said Price had “acted dishonestly” and was “motivated by greed” and he would jail him for six weeks. However, if Price made arrangements during that time to comply with the orders, the court would entertain an application to have him released.
The judge also directed the transcript of yesterday’s proceedings and other documents be forwarded to the DPP to determine if criminal offences had been committed. He also directed the Law Society should investigate the matter given what the court had heard relating to at least one firm of solicitors involved in the transfer of the lands.
Ann Casey and Moira McDonagh, whose families live in Feighcullen, had earlier informed the court of the hardship they faced without the road. They said they had paid over €25,000 for their sites and the council had said it could not house them because they owned property. When the judge asked whether the council could assist them, Ms Hughes said a report would be sent to the Kildare county manager.