The operators of an illegal quarry in Co Carlow engaged in a “material, significant and gross breach” of court orders in carrying out its unauthorised activities, a High Court judge has said.
In a recent judgment, Mr Justice David Nolan ordered Hilltop Quarries Ltd and its director, David Condell, of Bilboa, Co Carlow, to remediate the damage done to the site by refilling craters created by the unauthorised activity.
The orders follow proceedings brought against Hilltop and Mr Condell by Michael Bencik and Yvonne Nolan, a couple who live beside the site of the unauthorised quarry in Bilboa.
In his judgment, Mr Justice Nolan noted it was admitted by Hilltop that there was unauthorised quarrying activity carried out on the lands since 2023.
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Carlow County Council, a notice party in the proceedings, wrote to Hilltop in August 2023 stating it was aware of the unauthorised quarry, and said in “clear terms” that such activity was against the law.
Last July, the High Court ordered Hilltop and Mr Condell to stop carrying out unauthorised quarrying and related activities at the site.
Despite this, Mr Justice Nolan noted, Hilltop intensified its activity at the site in a clear breach of the court’s direction.
The activity eventually stopped when Mr Bencik and Ms Nolan, represented by FP Logue Solicitors, brought a motion for the attachment and committal of the quarry operators. At this point, Mr Condell gave an undertaking to stop work at the site, the judge noted.
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Mr Bencik and Ms Nolan then dropped the attachment and committal motion, instead seeking orders for remediation of the lands to its prior condition.
Prior to Mr Condell’s operation, authorised quarrying had occurred at the site some years previously, but since then the land had become overgrown with trees and shrubs. “Nature had taken back the lands to its bosom,” the judge noted.
Mr Justice Nolan said photographs from the site showed the Hilltop operation had “caused dramatic and detrimental damage to the lands”.
Counsel for Mr Condell made various submissions, including that he had the benefit of legal advice only from September last year, and that he was a man of limited education.
On the latter submission, the judge said he did not accept the explanation: “He is a company director and has been able to operate what seems to be a very successful quarrying-type business for what seems to be a number of years.”
The judge said the “extensive” digging of a large quarry was a “material, significant and gross breach”.
“By destroying what nature had put in place, [Hilltop and Mr Condell] were carrying out a grave wrong,” he said.
The judge also noted that Mr Condell and his company showed an “egregious attitude” to planning control, and “doubled down” on the operation in the face of a court order.
These actions cannot be regarded as a mistake or indifference – they are “culpable disregard,” Mr Justice Nolan said.
The judge said his failing to order Hilltop to remediate the lands would equate to “rewarding them for their illegal behaviour”.
In the circumstances, he made the order directing Hilltop and Mr Condell to restore the lands to their prior condition before the commencement of the unauthorised quarrying.
