‘Why weren’t we told about High Court actions?’ demands Paton

By Mairead Wilmot
A COUNTY councilor has pledged to “pursue the county manager relentlessly” in a bid to get details on eight High Court cases being taken against the council in 2009 alone.

During Monday’s meeting of Carlow County Council, Labour’s William Paton said he found it “rather strange” that there were so many High Court proceedings ongoing and that councilors were unaware of them.

“There are eight cases in which Carlow County Council is acting as a defendant. The previous year there were four, and the year before that there were only two.”

He went on to demand that the county manager meet councillors to give them a “briefing session” on why the council has found itself acting as defendant in so many cases. “I just want

to know what’s going on,” cllr Paton told The Nationalist. “Why are there so many cases and what is going on in our council?”

The Labour councilor from Tullow added that councillors had been made aware of one High Court proceeding involving a dispute between local firm McLoughlin’s and its purchase of Plas na Saoirse in the centre of

Carlow town.

It appears that in the eight cases in which the council is named as defendant, four of those involve the McLoughlin family under various guises, three in which Nesselside Builders are named as plaintiffs and a further case in which they are named as Dolmen Estates. Another case has been taken against the council by developer Myles Crofton, who is the managing director of the Naus Group. The group acquired land

along the Barrow Track in 2005 with a view to redeveloping the entire area with hotels, retail space and residential units, but no work has taken place to date.

The remaining cases appear to involve private citizens. “The county manager has agreed to brief members and I will pursue him relentlessly until we get it,” promised Cllr Paton.