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From:
William Finnerty
Cc:
Mr Gearoid Geraghty (Fair Murtagh) ;
Law Society (Republic of Ireland) ;
Chief Justice of The Republic of Ireland (Mr. Ronan Keane) ;
President Mary McAleese ;
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern ;
Assistant
Police Commissioner (Galway area) ;
Garda
Commissioner Noel Conroy (Chief Commissioner of Police, Republic of
Ireland) ;
Margot Wallstrom (European Union Environment Commissioner) ;
Commission of the European Communities (Attn. Secretary-General) ;
01
Eir ;
02 Yah ;
03 Hot ;
04 Hot ;
05 Yah ;
An Bord
Pleanala ;
Environment Protection Agency ;
The Democracy Commission (Ireland) ;
Kilconnell Anti-Dump Group Secretary (Annette Gilchrist) ;
New Inn
Anti-Dump Chairman (Vincent Costello) ;
Woodlawn House Preservation Society ;
Tara / Skreen Group ;
New Inn AntiDump Internet Group ;
Nature Ireland ;
Kilconnell Anti-Dump Internet Group ;
Green Party Ireland (Yahoo Group) ;
East Galway Green Party (Siobhan Nevin) ;
CelticParty(Yahoo) ;
Ann Marie Kelly Discussion Group ;
An Taisce (Yahoo Discussion Group)
Sent: Friday, July 16, 2004 3:01 PM
Subject: [Celtic Party] Extant police warrant for arrest, and
Waste Management (Amendment) Act 2002
Dear Mr Egan,
As you may already know (from earlier
correspondence I have sent to your colleague Mr Geraghty), I have been
trying for a number of years now to find a way of legally challenging
the constitutionality of Waste Management (Amendment) Act 2002.
Though I have sought help from
numerous sources during the past few years (which includes several
lawyers, law firms, politicians, political parties, the Republic
of Ireland Law Society, the British Law Society,
European Union organisations, human-rights organisations, and
so on), it is only very recently that I accidentally happened to come
across the information I have been seeking; and, for your convenience, I
have reproduced it below (together with the Internet address of where I
found it).
I would now like to proceed along the lines
suggested in the government information set out further down; and, it
would be very much appreciated if you could let me have information
regarding the legal costs that doing so will involve.
I wish you to know that I have already
appealed to An Board Pleanala on February 21st
2004 regarding the constitutionality of Waste Management
(Amendment) Act 2002; and, I did so because I believe a part of the Act
is in breach of Article 28A of the Constitution
of the Republic of Ireland: i.e. the part which effectively
removes all major decision making powers from the democratically elected
local government representatives regarding the location of huge rubbish
dumps and incinerators.
The An Bord Pleanala references for
the above mentioned appeal are: PL 07.205181 (P.A.Reg.Ref:
02/3811). Further details can be found at the following
Internet address:
http://www.finnachta.com/BordPleanalaAppeal.htm
Unfortunately, An Bord Pleanala appear to me
to have completely ignored all five of the points I raised in my appeal
to them dated February 21st 2004. (The five points in question can be
seen at the above Internet address.)
I feel I should make you aware that I was
invited to a well attended meeting of the Kilconnell Anti-Dump
Group last Wednesday evening (July 14th 2004),
and that it became very clear to me during the meeting that none of the
many other people present were at all happy with the An Board Pleanala
appeal decision either.
It also appears to be the case that the
Kilconnell Anti-Dump Group have very seriously considered challenging
the legality of the An Board Pleanala decision in the High Court: and
that they have been told by their lawyers (I understand), that it could
cost up to EUROS 600,000 to do so. In so far as it is
possible for me to judge, they now appear to have definitely decided
against taking any such High Court action - entirely because they feel
the local community would not be able to afford the legal costs, if the
case were to go against them.
I also heard at last Wednesday's meeting
(Kilconnell Anti-Dump), that before Celtic Waste can
begin any operations at the Kilconnell site, they need some further
licence or other from the Environment Protection Agency
- which, I understand, is now due to be issued sometime within the
coming few weeks. Consequently, I am copying this e-mail to the
Environment Protection Agency: with an implicit request that they
put this particular licence decision in abeyance until after the
constitutionality of Waste Management (Amendment) Act 2002 has been
checked, and fully decided upon, by the High Court.
I am also copying this e-mail to the
police, because, as your colleague Mr Geraghty will confirm,
there is an extant warrant for my arrest still in
existence - which is directly connected with one of my many earlier
attempts to try and have the constitutionality of Waste Management
(Amendment) Act 2002 checked in a responsible manner, by the appropriate
authority. Background information to this "Internet road sign" incident
can be found at the following Internet location:
http://www.finnachta.com/Election/May_2002_General_Election.htm#In
Later today I will send a printed (and
signed) copy of this e-mail, addressed to you, to the Fair
Murtagh office in Athlone. I will send it by registered post.
I will also place a copy of this e-mail on
the Internet at the following address, which has translation facilities
for several European Union languages:
http://www.finnachta.com/FairMurtaghEmail16July2004.htm
I look forward to receiving a written reply
from you regarding the two main issues I have referred to above: i.e.
(1) the extant police warrant for my arrest; and,
(2) the cost of having the constitutionality of Waste
management (Amendment) Act 2002 checked by the High Court.
Yours sincerely,
Mr William Finnerty
"St Albans"
New Inn
Ballinasloe
County Galway.
++++++++++
The information below has come from the
following government Internet address:
http://www.oasis.gov.ie/government_in_ireland/the_constitution/unconstitutional_legislation _and_decisions.html
++++++++++
Unconstitutional Legislation and DecisionsInformationThe High Court in Ireland has a power or "jurisdiction" called "judicial review". Judicial review is a way for the High Court to supervise the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) to make sure that legislation does not conflict with the Constitution (or 'Basic Law' of Ireland). It is also a way for the High Court to supervise the lower courts, tribunals and other bodies to ensure that they make their decisions properly. RulesJudicial Review of LegislationThe High Court has the power or "jurisdiction" to cancel any law or part of any law that is repugnant to the Constitution. This means that if you believe that a law breaches the Constitution or your fundamental rights, you may bring "judicial review" proceedings in the High Court. In order to bring judicial review proceedings, you must simply show that you have "sufficient interest" in the proceedings, i.e., that the legislation affects you in some real way. You must also show that you have an arguable case, i.e., that your case has grounds. Once you have passed this preliminary test, the High Court will allow you to apply for judicial review. The High Court will then examine the legislation in question and decide whether or not it conflicts with the Constitution. If it decides that the legislation does conflict with the Constitution, it may annul or cancel the law or the part of it that is unconstitutional. The Irish President also has the power to start judicial review proceedings. Under the Constitution, if he or she considers that a new Bill might raise constitutional problems, he or she may refer the Bill to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will then examine the Bill and hear arguments on both sides to decide whether or not the Bill is constitutional and can be passed as legislation. Judicial Review of Public DecisionsPublic decisions may be judicially reviewed by the High Court to determine whether they are unconstitutional or illegal. Some examples of public decisions include: The basic principles of public decision-making are: If the decision-maker does not have authority or does not give you fair procedure, you may bring judicial review proceedings in the High Court to challenge the decision. You must show that you have "sufficient interest" in the proceedings, i.e., that you were affected in some way by the decision you are challenging. You must also show that you have an arguable case, i.e., that your case has grounds. The High Court will examine the decision and how it was reached and will decide whether or not it was unconstitutional or illegal. The High Court may then quash or cancel the decision. How to applyIf you wish to begin judicial review proceedings, you should contact a solicitor who will in turn brief a barrister to draft the papers for the case. It is also possible for you to represent yourself if you wish to keep your legal costs down. There is no fixed rate of charges for legal fees in Ireland so you should obtain some quotes before deciding on legal representation. Your solicitor must advise you in writing of the fees you will be charged for his/her services. If it is not possible to give you a definite sum, he/she must estimate a sum or at the very least describe the basis upon which charges or fees will be calculated. This document was printed from the Oasis website (http://www.oasis.gov.ie/).
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