High Court action is to be taken against Clare County Council over the continued use of a temporary car-park at the Cliffs of Moher.
The way has been cleared for private firm Diamrem Ltd – which has built park and ride facilities to serve the cliffs – to go ahead with an action against the council.
The local authority sought to stop the action with a ‘security of costs’ application, requiring the company to lodge the cost of the action before the court case, but this has been dismissed.
Diamrem Ltd has built park-and-ride facilities at Doolin and Liscannor to serve the Cliffs of Moher.
In a proposed High Court Action, the firm is seeking the closure of a temporary car park operated by Clare County Council at the Cliffs since its subsidiary opened the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience ten years ago.
It argues that its business will be unviable if the council doesn’t shut the temporary car park.
The authority has already said its long-term objective is to eliminate car parking at the site, and has also argued that it is not in the public interest to close the carpark which generates millions of euro in revenue each year.
The Irish Examiner reports that the local authority sought a ‘security of costs’ order, which would have forced Diamrem to lodge the cost of the court action before the case.
However, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan has dismissed the council’s ‘security of costs’ application, paving the way for the case to proceed.
The judge said there’s no dispute about the fact that the car park at the Cliffs has ever been anything other than temporary.