Council fails to get costs in case judge says is not major planning breach

County Council officials stood on platforms so they could peer over a high metal fence to see if a small-time businessman they were pursuing through the courts was complying with planning on a remote section of the Ring of Kerry, a court in Killarney was told yesterday.

Vincent Sheehan, aged 68, of Tahilla, Sneem, a small farmer with 10 cows on poor land, came up with an idea of “depolluting” and storing cars on their way to be recycled. In 2007, and in poor health, he was not entitled to social welfare and needed to make a modest income, the Circuit Civil Court was told.

He applied for planning for the small operation “and this drew the council on him”, Eliza Kelleher, barrister, told Judge James O’Donohoe.