THE HIGH Court has adjourned an application to jail the owner of a timber homes and garden products firm in Co Wicklow for failing to comply with a court order to demolish the company’s factory, which was constructed without planning permission.
Mr Justice Peter Charleton had in July 2007 found that a factory and other buildings of Forest Fencing Ltd, trading as Abwood Homes, at Kiladreenan, near Newcastle, was developed without planning permission. The company employs some 70 people.
The judge ordered Abwood, owned by George Smullen, to clear the site, but put a stay on that order until April of this year to allow the situation be remedied.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Charleton was told by Paul Murray, for Wicklow Co Council, that the terms of the court order had not been carried out, and the council was consequently seeking an order for Mr Smullen’s committal to prison.
Michael Howard SC, for Mr Smullen, said an order for his client’s committal was premature and inappropriate as Mr Smullen had acted on genuine advice while trying to deal with the situation.
The council had contempt proceedings pending against his client while at the same time supporting his application for retention of the facility, which would allow the business remain at its current location, counsel said.
Mr Howard asked the judge to put a further stay on proceedings until Mr Smullen’s appeal to An Bord Pleanála against the decision not to grant him retention permission could be determined.
He said retention permission would constitute a material contravention of the Wicklow county development plan and the council would have to sanction that. The council’s management had recommended councillors do so, but while 17 of the 24-member council voted last month for that, the number was one short of the required 75 per cent majority and the motion fell. One councillor who missed the vote had written to them expressing support, counsel added.
Mr Smullen employed 70 people and 52 of these have been on protective notice due to the uncertainty over the operation, Mr Howard added.
Mr Smullen told the court that, if he was unsuccessful in his appeal for retention permission, he would tear down the buildings, which had been there since the mid-1990s, and no further business would take place at the site.
Mr Justice Charleton said that while Mr Smullen was a decent man who provided good employment, the rules of law could not be ignored. The judge said he, to put it mildly, was “not impressed” by the fact there was no real effort to comply with what the court had previously ordered.
There was no point going around saying “I don’t like the taxman or the planning officials” as the rules were there for the benefit of everyone, he added
The council was not premature in bringing its application for Mr Smullen’s committal to prison and the motion was correctly brought, he said. While it was an unpleasant part of the job, he would send somebody to prison for contempt of court if he had to, he warned.
However, in light of the undertakings Mr Smullen had given in the witness box and that an appeal of the council’s decision had been lodged to An Bord Pleanála, the judge said he would adjourn the matter until the board had decided the appeal and then take matters from there. The case was adjourned until January next.