Election candidate Noel O'Gara was warned yesterday he could be in jail by the time voters go to the polls this day week.
He was warned by a judge yesterday to take advice and consider his position very carefully.
Dublin City Council had asked Judge Jacqueline Linnane to commit "The Planning Reform Party" candidate to jail for contempt of court.
Ms Carol O'Farrell, counsel for the local authority, said Mr O'Gara, of Ballinahowen Court, Athlone, Co Westmeath, and his company, Marble and Granite Tiles Ltd, had failed to comply with an order restraining the unauthorised use of Dartmouth Square Park, Dublin, for commercial purposes.
She said Dublin City Council was also seeking to sequestrate the assets of Marble and Granite Tiles Ltd.
Ms O'Farrell told the Circuit Civil Court that O'Gara had been restrained from using the park for the advertising, sale or display of tiles and had been directed by the court to remove a caravan and generator from the park grounds.
She told Judge Linnane that following inspections it had become clear to the city council that advertising along the railings and in the park had continued and now there was not one but three caravans in the park.
When O'Gara told the court he was opposing the council's application to imprison him and sequestrate his company's assets, Judge Linnane said she would adjourn the matter until next Wednesday to allow him put on sworn affidavit any challenge to the facts relied on by the council.
"As you are facing a contempt of court order I suggest you take advice and consider your position very carefully," Judge Linnane said.
Mr O'Gara, who earlier distributed election leaflets to solicitors and barristers both inside the court and in the grounds of the Four Courts, told Judge Linnane she was attempting to gag him and prevent him from bringing his case out in the open.
He said he had stopped selling tiles in the park and the caravans were in place for the use of homeless people who had asked him if they could park them there.
When O'Gara questioned Judge Linnane on private and personal matters, she adjourned the case until next Wednesday and briefly adjourned the court.