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A Co Kildare man has been jailed for six weeks over his "wilful, cynical and repeated" failure to obey court orders requiring him to remove a stretch of road that was constructed without planning permission.
High Court judge, Justice John Quirke also referred papers in the proceedings against Leo Price to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Law Society, reports the Irish Times.
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 16 sites for housing.
Kildare County Council brought the committal proceedings after claiming Price had not made any efforts to rectify the situation since the order was made.
Speaking in court yesterday, Cormac Ó Dúlacháin SC said his client would remove the road by August 1st, which was accepted by the council as being a reasonable deadline.
In his ruling, Mr Justice Quirke said Price was in "serious contempt" and had "abused the processes of the court".
Price 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 him to comply.
The defendant alleged that the road was transferred to Alan Judge in 2004. However, Mr Judge gave evidence saying he was never asked to do anything to remove the road by Price.
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.
(NS/GK)
