A bench warrant has been issued for Sean Meehan who has been battling to save the mobile home he lives in on his own land in County Tipperary.
As Gript previously reported, Meehan (66) placed the mobile home on a plot of disused land he purchased without first seeking permission from Tipperary County Council, and has hitherto failed to obtain retention permission which would allow him to keep his home.
Meehan told Gript that he has now launched a judicial review of his case in the High Court.
He said that he was informed that his case before Cashel District Court – in relation to orders that the mobile home be taken off his land – had been withdrawn from the list where it had been due to take place at 11am yesterday morning, but was “shocked” to receive a phone call telling him that sitting Judge John O’Shea was “ballistic” that he wasn’t in count.
“I thought this was all squared,” he said, adding, “I had launched a judicial review in the High Court in Dublin.”
He said that by the time he was informed that he was being told to make an appearance he was “not set up” to go to court.
“Judge O’Shea went ahead with the case and issued a bench warrant for my arrest,” he said.
Meehan said he was now expecting the Gardaí to come and “collect” him.
“This is my home,” he said, adding, “I’m not running from anybody.”
“What happens from there, I don’t know,” he said.
As Gript previously reported, Meehan was told he could face four months in prison for refusing to remove his home from his land, and attended previous court hearings with a small bag packed in anticipation of being jailed.
He says that the local authority have not offered him alternative accommodation while issuing orders that he says would render him “homeless”.
As Gript previously reported, last June McGrath raised Meehan’s plight before the Dáil asking that the then government apply a statutory instrument to allow a moratorium for people like Meehan to continue living in mobile homes erected without planning permission in light of the country’s unprecedented housing crisis.