One of the foremost environmental activists in the State has been barred from acting as a director of certain companies for five years.
This follows a hearing in the High Court yesterday into the liquidation of a limited company he co-founded to campaign on environmental issues.
Mr Ian Lumley and Mr Stephen Smith, both directors of Lancefort Ltd, consented to an order which prevents them from acting as a director of a company which does not meet certain capital requirements.
Mr Lumley is also heritage officer of An Taisce, the voluntary organisation which local authorities are legally obliged to consult on development proposals.
Lancefort was involved in a series of cases, including one high-profile legal action, relating to a series of controversial developments in the late 1990s.
It pioneered the use of European environmental legislation and was involved in a series of appeals to An Bord Pleanála, complaints to the European Union and legal actions.
The company was established by Mr Lumley and another environmental and planning activist, Mr Michael Smith, in 1996. It was subsequently represented in various court cases by barrister Mr Colm Mac Eochaidh. Both Mr Mac Eochaidh and Mr Smith were also behind the £10,000 reward for information leading to convictions for planning corruption, a reward which eventually led to the establishment of the Flood tribunal.
Mr Smith resigned as a director of the company in 1999 when he became chairman of An Taisce. He was not subject to yesterday's court proceedings.
The company's most notable case was an unsuccessful and costly action it took against Treasury Holdings hotel and office complex at College Green, Dublin, now the Westin Hotel.
That action eventually led to Lancefort's liquidation in 2002, after the High Court awarded £23,000 costs against it.
Yesterday Mr Lumley and Mr Stephen Smith of Lancefort consented to an order being made against them under section 150 of the Companies Act.
A person against whom a section 150 order is made may not, for a five-year period, act as a director of a company which does not meet certain capital requirements.
The section 150 application was brought by the official liquidator of Lancefort Co Ltd, Mr Ray Jackson, against Mr Lumley and Mr Stephen Smith, who were stated to have been directors of the company as of the date of liquidation or were directors within 12 months of the winding up.
The High Court had appointed Mr Jackson as liquidator on July 8th, 2002.
In an affidavit, Mr Jackson said Mr Lumley, having previously been a director of the company from February 7th, 1997, until June 11th, 1997, was reappointed on October 6th, 1999, and continued as a director up to the date of liquidation.
Mr Smith became a director on May 20th, 2000, and continued as a director until the date of liquidation.
Mr Jackson said he believed the company was insolvent within the meaning of section 214 of the Companies Act, 1963.
He had sent three reports to the Director of Corporate Enforcement and "had not been relieved by him" of the obligation to bring the application to court.