The High Court has refused to continue a stay that prevented Donegal County Council from finalising roadworks contracts awarded to Churchill Stone Limited, citing the lack of a serious issue for interim relief and the public safety consequences of delaying road maintenance.
Mr Justice Max Barrett delivered the ruling on 26 May 2021 in judicial review proceedings brought by Whitemountain Quarries Limited. The application concerned whether a stay granted when leave was given to bring the proceedings should continue. The court said Whitemountain carried the burden of showing why it should.
The council had awarded the contracts to Churchill by a decision dated 9 April 2021. Whitemountain’s argument relied on an air emissions licence granted by the council to Moyle Plant Limited around 12 January 2021. A third party had appealed the licence to the Environmental Protection Agency. Whitemountain said the licence was invalid. Moyle was not a party to the case and had not taken part in the procurement process; the tender did not require it to hold such a licence. Whitemountain was not the party that appealed the licence.
The judge concluded that Whitemountain had not established a serious issue to be tried on the stay application. He said a complaint about Moyle’s licence could not, in the circumstances, provide a procurement-based cause of action. He also said that even if the appeal had effectively suspended the licence—a position disputed by the council and Churchill—that would not prevent the public works contract from being awarded or performed using asphalt from another source. The court raised, but did not decide, whether the proceedings amounted to an impermissible collateral attack on the licence.
The judge went on to consider the balance of convenience. He said the evidence drew attention to the public safety implications of poorly maintained roads in Donegal and to the narrow weather window for repairs, which the parties agreed typically extended only to August or September. The court also noted that there was no suggestion the contracts would put Whitemountain out of business, cause it job losses or significant reputational damage. Churchill, by contrast, had committed to work that made up a significant part of its trade, and the judge said jobs might be lost if the contracts did not proceed.
The judge said damages would not adequately address Whitemountain’s position if it ultimately succeeded, but could not compensate the council or road users for dangerous defects arising from delay. He declined to continue the stay and said the parties would be heard on costs on a convenient day in the following week or two. The ruling addressed interim relief; it did not determine the underlying judicial review.