There is a strong Garda presence in front of a stop in south Dublin where a wedding reception was planned for that evening.
The parents of a couple who got married in Co Armagh this morning were ordered by a judge to dismantle a marquee they had put up tonight for a reception at a stop in Dublin.
At least 20 Garda vehicles are now at the front of the stop on Leopardstown Road behind traffic cones.
The wedding limo has just returned from Co Armagh and members of the wedding party can be seen pacing up and down off the premises.
Vans for public order units as well as patrol cars and traffic guards are on site, and the operation results in traffic in the area being stopped.
Gardai arrived around 2pm.
This morning Judge Sinéad Ní Chulacháin gave the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown District Council permission to use an independent contractor to remove the marquee in Burton Park on Leopardstown Road in south Dublin if Defendants Michael and Johanna Connors refused to do so to do yourself.
The judge told the local authority attorney Niall Flynn that she would issue an order preventing the Connors and anyone else in the know of the injunction from disrupting independent contractors while they tear down the wedding tent.
Mr Flynn, who appeared for the council with attorney Liz Neary, said yesterday that Mr Connors told a council official he knew he was breaking rental and Covid-19 rules and regulations, but the reception at Burton Park No. 3, Leopardstown Road, Dublin 18, would go straight on.
Shut down
At least 20 Garda vehicles are now at the front of the stop on Leopardstown Road behind traffic cones
At least 20 Garda vehicles are now at the front of the stop on Leopardstown Road behind traffic cones
“Acting council administrator Liam Donovan was informed by Mr. Connors last night that his son was getting married this morning in Co Armagh and that the marquee should facilitate the 40-person bridal shower and continue,” said Mr. Flynn.
He told the Circuit Civil Court that when he found out he was breaking the law, Mr. Connors replied, “I know all of this. I know I’m violating my tenancy, but it’s my son’s wedding and he has no other place to go. “
The council also received permission to broadcast the court’s orders on national radio stations while the bride and groom and their guests were en route from Co Armagh to the 6pm reception scheduled for today in Co Dublin.
Mr Donovan said the Gardaí supported the council’s proposal and when he asked Mr Connors to dismantle the marquee, he replied, “I cannot dismantle it. My son’s wedding is going ahead and I accept the consequences if I don’t take them off. “
Ms. Neary, an attorney in the legal department of the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown District Council, said after the injunction petitioned that the council would move immediately to dismantle the marquee or hire an independent contractor to do the work for them.
Judge Ní Chulacháin said that she noticed in photos of the marquee taken by Mr. Donovan that there were 11 tables in the marquee surrounded by chairs, enough chairs to accommodate more than 60 people.
Mr Flynn told the court the council viewed the planned reception as a breach of Covid-19 regulations amid a global pandemic, as well as a breach of a rental agreement. The community was also concerned about the lack of insurance coverage for the event that evening.
Judge Ní Chulacháin gave the council permission to notify Mr. Connors personally and also to issue communications detailing the court orders. The judge also ordered that all persons associated with the reception, including the bridal party and guests, should be warned that they would be prevented from entering the marquee.
Mr Flynn said the council had significant concerns about the use of the marquee for the wedding reception which, he said, the Connors had no intention of preventing the court from doing so.
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