RESIDENTS of Kill, Co Kildare, who lost their High Court action to prevent the State's biggest dump going ahead, were ordered yesterday to pay the legal costs of Dublin local authorities and An Bord Pleanala. This is in addition to paying their own legal team.
Their counsel, Mr Philip O'Sullivan SC, asked the judge not to burden his clients with costs.
Mr Michael Collins SC, for An Bord Pleanala, and Mr John Gallagher SC, for Dublin local authorities, applied for their costs of the three week hearing before Mr Justice Barr.
Mr O'Sullivan said this development would be catering for the entire south Dublin metropolitan region and would be imposed on his clients, who had nothing to do with the source of the material. It was because of their level of concern that the residents took the legal proceedings.
Mr Justice Barr said the case had a certain emotive factor. Nobody particularly wanted a dump of this sort in their locality but it had to go somewhere.
Mr O'Sullivan said Mr Justice Barr's judgment was the primary authority on matters which he [the judge] acknowledged were substantial in relation to the planning permission but which had been brought outside of the time allowed.
He said Mr Justice Barr's judgment had to await a Supreme Court decision in another case which touched on matters central to the issues in the Kill case.
Mr O'Sullivan said that, at the preliminary stage of the proceedings, Miss Justice Carroll, after an eight day hearing, had held in favour of his clients that there were substantial grounds for a full hearing of the matter.
That had been opposed by the local authorities. If there was to be an award of costs against the Kill residents then those costs should be offset by the residents' before Miss Justice Carroll.
Mr Justice Barr said that following An Bord Pleanala's decision to grant permission subject to conditions, there was a time limit of two months allowed in which the residents could seek a review by the court of the board's decision.
It had been held by the Supreme Court and reaffirmed in his own judgment, said Mr Justice Barr that it was necessary to give sufficient details to the other interested parties.
Accordingly, if there was to be a challenge by way of judicial review, it should proceed with dispatch and should be decided as soon as reasonably practical so that a proposed development of this sort might proceed.
The preliminary hearing before Ms Justice Carroll took eight days before she satisfied herself there were substantial grounds and the matter went for judicial review.
The local authority had argued against sending it forward and it seemed the effect of all this was to extend the hearing by at least an additional six days.
Mr Justice Barr held the Dublin local authorities were entitled to costs at the preliminary hearing and the Kill residents were entitled to costs for the remaining six days, to be set off against those for which they were liable to the Dublin local authorities.
The hearing before him, said the judge, had lasted three weeks.
The board and Dublin local authorities were entitled to costs of the substantive hearing.
Mr Justice Barr adjourned the matter for a week after Mr O'Sullivan asked for time to consider applying for a certificate to, appeal to the Supreme Court.