Tipperary man Sean Meehan says he has been ordered to pay in the region of €10.000 in legal costs incurred by Tipperary County Council before a sitting of Cashel District Court this morning.
Meehan said he was also given bail on his own bond of €1,000 in circumstances where he says was sentenced to four months in jail.
He says he believes he has been released “on continuous bail” pending a future court date and that he had “packed a bag” before attending the court this morning and that “a lot” of the proceeding today had “gone over” his head.
Meehan told Gript he had “a gut feeling all week” that things would not go in her favour today and that he is now waiting on the results of a judicial review of his case that he has lodged in the High Court.
He said that the sitting judge had risen for “15 minutes” before returning to the bench and reaffirming that planning laws had been broken before delivering his ruling.
As Gript previously reported, Meehan (66) has been battling Tipperary County Council to attain retrospective planning permission for a mobile home – now encased in wood – that he moved onto land he purchased after his marriage broke down.
Meehan, as well as another witness who was present in the court, told Gript that Meehan may also now face a daily charge for as long as his home stands on the land where he erected it, a move he compared to daily charges applied to teacher, Enoch Burke, for failure to comply with a court order.
About 100 people gathered outside the courthouse this morning holding signs with messages including, “Save Sean’s Cabin”.
As reported by Tipp FM, A meeting was to take place in Tipperary this week to try to prohibit Tipperary County Council from engaging in any further legal action against Meehan.
Speaking in support of Meehan, Tipperary Independent TD Mattie McGrath said, “Sean has been through the mill”.
Addressing an incident where Meehan claims he was told by his legal representative that he did not need to attend court which resulted in the issuing of a bench warrant, McGrath said, that Sean – as well as himself – have “learned” that you must attend court if you are on the list “despite” what you may be told by your legal team.”
“There is a sentence over his head,” he said, adding, “I’m hoping and praying that the judge will see some kind of sympathy and empathy,” he said.
McGrath, who had called for a moratorium for people living in small cabins and mobile homes on family owned land, continued, “as we know Sean is not very well at present also, but he will be there. “
He says he hopes to invoke Section 140 in hopes of saving Meehan’s home.
Speaking to Gript Meehan said that he is suffering with bronchitis and is on antibiotics at the moment.
He said he believes that the Section 140 avenue may have stayed the judge’s hand this morning.
He said he is awaiting an update on what will happen to him at a later court date and that this was “due to be arranged”.
Meehan said that he was “not sleeping well” and that he was “getting cheesed off” at the situation.
“It’s a wonderful country,” he said.
Cllr. Niall Dennehy- one of the six representatives who are behind the Section 140 move – told Tipp FM the sitting government must not “discriminate” against “any citizen”.
He said he and his fellow signatories felt that “common sense was not prevailing” in Meehan’s case.
Tipperary county council’s reasons for its decision against granting Meehan retention in respect of his home were laid out in the following terms, “Having regard to the location of the development the design and nature of the structure the poor aesthetic value of the structure and the likelihood of it deteriorating over time by virtue materials used in its construction and the prevailing pattern of development of the area, it is considered that the development for which retention permission is sought.
(a) would form a haphazard and substandard form of residential accommodation and gene or aesthetic value and can detract from the overall appearance of the area.
(b) result in a substandard living environment for the residents of the structure.
(c) would fail to accord with the ‘Development and Design Standards’ for residential structure it in Rural Design Guide, of the Tipperary County Development Plan 2022, by residential structures as the overall design and construction of such structure;
(d) would injure the amenities and depreciate the value of property in the vicinity; set an undesirable precedent for similar type proposals in the area.
(e) would set an undesirable precedent for similar type proposals in the area.