Fingal County Council will ask the High Court on Friday to imprison or fine"bin tax" protesters and Socialist Party members Mr Joe Higgins, TD, and fellow party councillor Ms Clare Daly.
Lawyers for the council today told the court that Mr Higgins and Ms Daly had been "intimately involved and actively participating in a blockade of collections in blatant disregard" to a week old High Court injunction outlawing such activities.
About 50 anti-bin charge campaigners protested outside the court as Mr Higgins and Ms Daly arrived earlier this morning.
The case comes amid continued protests across Dublin at the council's decision not to collect domestic waste from householders who have not paid their refuse charges.
When the Council sought leave to serve short notice of attachment andcommittal proceedings Mr Higgins said he had to be honest with the court andstated he was not in a position to cease the democratic campaign againstwaste collection charges or personally refrain from assisting in thecampaign of civil disobedience.
"The actions of Fingal County Council are seriously detrimental to thethousands of residents I represent," he told Judge O'Neill.
Councillor Daly said that with no disrespect to the court she wished to beassociated with and adopt Mr Higgins's attitude.
Judge O'Neill, when told they did not wish to give any undertaking to obeycourt injunctions restraining them from interfering with bin collections orthe lawful passage of bin lorries, said he had no option but to grant thecouncil's application for short service of the attachment and committalproceedings which shall be heard on Friday.
Mr Higgins, in an affidavit, said there was massive opposition to the bincharges and massive resentment at the council's direction that those engagedin a boycott of the new charge should be denied a refuse collection service.
He said the council had alleged he and another Councillor, Ms RuthCoppinger, also a named defendant, had encouraged householders and residentsto intimidate neighbours who had paid the charges and placed tags on theirbins.
"This is a scurrilous allegation and is entirely untrue," Mr Higgins said.
"Any campaign in which I have been involved has been entirely peaceable andI would find such conduct utterly repugnant," he said.
Mr Higgins also denied stating he would arrange for the collection anddumping of untagged waste on public open space and land owned by thecouncil.
He also refuted allegations that he had intimidated officials of FingalCounty Council and said the peaceful community political campaign would notcondone the intimidation or harrassment of anyone.
Mr James Macken SC, for Fingal County Council, said: "While it may be legitimate for them to mount a campaign to have the bin tax removed and the policy of the county council changed it is not legitimate to promote that campaign by engaging in illegal activity on a wholesale scale.
He said they had known of the High Court order made by Mrs Justice FinlayGeoghegan yet had deliberately and avowedly flouted it.
Judge O'Neill said the collection of bins had been grossly disrupted andwould continue unless the court intervened by way of interlocutory relief.Waste would accumulate, creating a public health hazard.