Dublin

Brothers living in caravan at ESB substation refusing to comply with orders to leave site, High Court told

Electricity company says site not safe to live on and its counsel says Paul and Glen Oglesby are creating barriers to hinder removal of trespassers

Mr Justice Rory Mulcahy was told by John Punch SC, for the ESB, that the deadline given by a court to leave a Dublin substation site had expired. Photograph: PA Wire
Mr Justice Rory Mulcahy was told by John Punch SC, for the ESB, that the deadline given by a court to leave a Dublin substation site had expired. Photograph: PA Wire
Aodhan O'Faolain
Tue May 21 2024 - 21:57

Two brothers allegedly living in a caravan on an electricity substation in north inner city Dublin have refused to comply with orders to leave the site, the High Court has heard.

The ESB has brought a motion which could result in Paul and Glen Oglesby being jailed for being in contempt of court. The company sought and obtained the orders initially against Paul Oglesby, who the ESB alleges is living in a caravan at the substation site at Gloucester Place Upper. It says the defendants have no right to be on the property.

The site is not a safe place for anyone to be living, the ESB says, and it earlier this month secured an order requiring those allegedly on the property to vacate it.

When the case returned to court a man who said he was Paul Oglesby’s brother, Glen, said it was he rather than Paul who was living there. Representing himself in the proceedings, Glen Oglesby said that if he has to leave he will end up living in homeless shelters and could end up taking drugs again.

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The ESB, which expressed its concerns about that claim, amended its proceedings to include both brothers as defendants.

The court, after granting an injunction in favour of the ESB, gave the defendants a period to remove their possessions and leave the site.

Mr Justice Rory Mulcahy was told by John Punch SC, for the ESB, at Tuesday’s vacation sitting of the High Court that the deadline given by the court to leave the site had expired and the order had not been complied with.

Counsel asked the judge for permission to bring a motion that the defendants be attached, or brought before the court, to answer their alleged contempt.

Mr Punch said that matters appeared to have escalated and that additional barriers have been placed at the site’s entrance aimed at further hindering any attempt to remove anyone trespassing.

Mr Justice Mulcahy, noting the ESB health’s and safety concerns, agreed that the case is urgent and granted the plaintiff permission, on an ex-parte basis, to bring its motion for attachment and committal. The judge, after making directions regarding the service of legal documents on the defendants, adjourned the matter to a date later this week.