The controversial English property company Jackson Way is to take court action shortly to force a €13 million compensation payout by Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council.
Almost two years after an arbitrator made the award to the company for land compulsorily acquired by the local authority for the M50 motorway, no money has changed hands.
Jackson Way says it has provided the council with the required documentation, but officials with the local authority say the company has yet to prove title.
The stand-off will have to be resolved in the courts.
Jackson Way, which has been investigated by the planning tribunal and the Criminal Assets Bureau, now plans to take legal action in the coming months, according to Stephen Miley, the solicitor who represented the company in the arbitration hearings.
He said the reason the company had not pursued the matter before now was because all his time had been taken up by dealings with the tribunal.
Mr Miley accused the council of being "pig-headed" about the payment. "They'd rather waste taxpayers' money than obey the law," he claimed.
He pointed out that in a previous case in which he was involved, when a different local authority refused to make an award as directed by the courts, he was appointed as receiver to the authority to enable the payment to be made.
A council spokesman said Jackson Way had written looking for the money but hadn't yet provided acceptable proof of ownership.
"Everything is in limbo at the moment. It's up to them to come and get the money. All we can do is wait for Jackson Way's next move."
Mr Miley pointed out that Jackson Way was not losing out financially because of the delay, as the award, in common with all payments made on foot of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs), was subject to interest at the local loans fund rate.
While this is low at the moment, the company may seek to qualify for the higher rate of interest pertaining when the CPO proceedings started over five years ago.
Last year, the tribunal heard evidence showing that a covenant exists restricting the building of houses on Jackson Way's land, which are in Carrickmines in south Dublin.
Although such a covenant could have a significant impact on the value of the land, the council spokesman said the arbitrator was aware of its existence before he made the award in 2003.
The tribunal, which has gone to great lengths to try to establish who owns Jackson Way, also heard evidence from Frank Friel, a Dublin solicitor who handled the conveyancing of the land, which appeared to suggest that the company did not have a valid legal title to the land.
The company's claim was made in respect of 20 acres of its 100 acre holding, for which it originally sought €116 million in compensation.
Ownership of Jackson Way is in the hands of a number of offshore trusts controlled by a solicitor, John Caldwell, and businessman Jim Kennedy, who bought the land from a local farmer for €840,000 in 1989.
Mr Kennedy is accused of giving money to former government press secretary Frank Dunlop to bribe county councillors in return for the rezoning of the land. He has refused to return to Ireland from his homes in the Isle of Man or Gibraltar to give evidence to the tribunal.
