Anti-Austerity Alliance councillor loses collection permit appeal

A judge has upheld a decision to deny an Anti-Austerity Alliance (AAA) councillor a permit for house-to-house and street collections in Dublin after a senior garda said the money could be used to encourage illegal acts.

The AAA is now considering a constitutional challenge to the decision which TD Ruth Coppinger described as an attempt to criminalise the party in the run-up to next year’s general election.

In July, AAA councillor Michael Murphy applied to Divisional Chief Supt Orla McPartlin of the Garda’s Dublin Metropolitan Region for a permit to carry out a collection.