O'Brien and Others v Wicklow Urban District Council & Wicklow County Council

JurisdictionIreland
JudgeMr. Justice Costello
Judgment Date10 June 1994
Neutral Citation2000 WJSC-HC 4988
CourtHigh Court
Date10 June 1994

2000 WJSC-HC 4988

THE HIGH COURT

O'BRIEN & ORS v. WICKLOW URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL & WICKLOW CO COUNCIL
John O'Brian and Ors.
v.
Wicklow Urban District Council and Wicklow CountryCouncil
1

Note of Ex Tempore Judgment of Mr. Justice CostelloDelivered on Friday 10th June 1994

2

It was agreed by the parties to these proceedings that it was desirable that they should be heard as speedily as possible. It was therefore agreed that a Motion for interlocutory relief should be treated as the trial of the action. The matter came on for hearing before me on 24th February 1993. I then raised the possibility with Counsel as to whether some type of compromise could be reached and as to whether some solution could be reached to a situation which involved great human deprivation. The case was therefore adjourned to see whether this would bepossible.

3

Unfortunately, the ameliorations which were discussed on 27th February 1994 didn't prove successful. I am very perturbed that a statement contained in a letter of 17th May 1994 from the Acting County Secretary to the Solicitors for the Plaintiffs in respect of the provision of an electricity supply to the Plaintiffs appears to be quite contradictory to a statement attributed to a County Council Official by a newspaper report of 15th April 1994 referred to by Sister Geraghty in her evidence. On the basis of that Report it appears that the Council Council, contrary to what was stated in the letter, did not at any time have an intention to provide electricity. While this is a matter of detail it nonetheless forms part of the background to the decisions which I have to make.

4

I am being asked by the Plaintiffs to hold, in effect, that the Local Authority has a duty to provide serviced sites to them and that because of the delay which will ensue before this can be done I am asked to direct that emergency facilities be supplied to them by the County Manager under the powers which he has pursuant to the provisions of the City and County Management (Amendment) Act, 1955as amended by Section 27 of the Housing Act, 1988.

5

The Plaintiffs are a number of members of the Travelling Community who are presently located at Whitegate, Kilcoole and Redford in the County of Wicklow.

6

There are 11 adults and 25 children at Whitegate, which form the members of four separate families and a grandmother. The conditions at Whitegate are appalling and are unsuitable for human habitation.

7

At Kilcoole there are 10 adults and their children. The conditions here again are appalling and unfit for human habitation.

8

If I interpret the Act as imposing a duty on the Local Authority I would have no doubt in holding that they were in breach of that duty.

9

The legal question which has to be decided is whether there is a duty on the Local Authority. I am satisfied that in the circumstances of this case a legal duty has arisen.

10

I accept the construction of the Judgment of Mr. Justice Barron in the case of University of Limerick and John Ryan and Ors. and of the Supreme Court in the case of McDonald v. Dublin CountyCouncil given to me by Mr. Finlay on behalf of the Plaintiffs. I also consider that Mr. Justice Barron's construction of the Judgment of the Supreme Court in the McDonald Case was correct.

11

Even though Section 13 of the 1988 Act provides that a Housing Authority has a discretion or power to provide serviced halting sites, once the assessment shows there is a need for such serviced sites and there is no valid reason why they shouldn't be provided it must be inferred that the Local Authority has a duty to provide them. If there is no reason why the need shouldn't be met I can only construe the Act as requiring a Local Authority to take reasonable steps to meet the needs which have been identified.

12

This was the view taken by Mr. Justice Barron in the University of Limerick Case. It is a view with which I agree. I don't think it is necessary to say whether I am now expressing a different view to the one which I...

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