Court stops Dartmouth Square being used as car park

The High Court has blocked an attempt to use a park in the middle of Dartmouth Square in south Dublin as a public car park.

The court yesterday granted Dublin City Council a temporary order until next Monday restraining Noel O'Gara and a company, Marble and Granite Tiles Ltd, the registered owner of the park, from parking more than two vehicles in it.

Both vehicles must be the property of either Mr O'Gara, of Ballinahowen Court, Athlone, Co Westmeath, a director of the company, or of the company itself, Mr Justice Frank Clarke directed.

The council applied for the order after Mr O'Gara opened the park gates on Monday morning and offered all-day parking at €10 per car. Mr O'Gara strongly objected to the making of the court order, claiming it breached his land and property rights under the Constitution and was "against everything Irish people ever dreamed about".

He sought an order restraining local residents from interfering with his access to the park. The judge said he would consider making such an order if the appropriate application was made.

Outside court later, Mr O'Gara said he had "no choice" but to obey the injunction pending a full hearing of the case next Monday.

Earlier, seeking the injunction, Carol O'Farrell BL, for the council, said it had received numerous complaints on Monday last from residents of Dartmouth Square concerning the use of the park for car parking. Council officials who visited the park that day saw a sign outside advertising supervised parking in the park from 7.30am to 7.30pm daily for €10. Inside the park, five vehicles were parked and three to four men, including Mr O'Gara, were controlling the use of the park as a car park.

Dartmouth Square park was zoned to provide recreational open space, council planning official Rory O'Byrne said in an affidavit. On March 20th last, the council made a compulsory purchase order to acquire the park. A decision by An Bord Pleanála as to whether that CPO should be confirmed or not was awaited.

The use of the park as a car park was a material change of use requiring planning permission, but no planning application had been made, Mr O'Byrne said.

Mr O'Gara and his company had been asked to give an undertaking by 1pm yesterday to cease that use or a court application would be made. No such undertaking was received.

Mr O'Byrne said the use of the park for the parking of cars was continuing yesterday, although the signboard observed on Monday had been removed. Instead, there was a "finger-type sign" outside the park gate indicating free parking.

Mr O'Gara told the judge he was the owner of the park and asked the judge to recognise it as private property. He had the right to drive or walk on to his land and could invite anyone to park there if he wished, he said. There was no unauthorised development - he was not building a car park, he argued.

The judge said the Planning Acts defined development as including a change of use.

"I must be living on a different planet and reading different books from you," Mr O'Gara said. "We fought for the land, I'm entitled to invite people on to it."

The judge said a parliament elected by the Irish people had enacted the relevant planing laws some 40 years ago. The planning code applied to all ownership of land, wherever it was.