A GREEN Party member of Fingal County Council was given leave by the High Court yesterday to challenge an order dated august 1994 withholding the payment of allowances and expenses until legal costs claimed to be due to the council are paid.
Mr David Healy, Evora Park, Howth, Co Dublin, in an affidavit said that in 1992 he and another applicant instituted proceedings seeking to quash a decision of Dublin County Council whereby planning permission was granted for certain developments in Howth. It was claimed they were in contravention of zoning provisions of the Development Plan.
In 1993 Dublin County Council was divided and Howth fell within the area governed by Fingal County Council. He served as a councillor elected to Fingal County Council.
He and the other applicant were unsuccessful in the proceedings relating to the planning matter and an order for costs was awarded against him, payable jointly and severally by him and the second applicant. The order was taxed at £13,767.
By letter of August 24th, 1994, from Fingal County Council, he was informed that an order with holding payment of allowances and expenses due to him as councillor had been made until the costs due to the council had been paid.
Mr Healy said his solicitor wrote to the council requesting it to state the precise statutory authority upon which the deductions had been made.
The council had enforced its purported order against him by refusing to pay him his expenses and allowances in respect of his functions as a public representative. The refusal to pay him expenses to which he was entitled impeded his ability to adequately fulfil these functions.