A couple whose illegally built home in Co Meath was demolished are bringing a fresh court application challenging actions of Meath County Council up to and including demolition.Rose Murray, accompanied by her son, was in the High Court on Wednesday when the matter came before Judge David Nolan.Barrister Deirdre Hughes, for the council, said Murray and her husband Michael – also known as Chris – are effectively seeking to “morph” an existing application by them into a wider challenge.The existing application challenged a finding last March that they were in contempt of 2020 court undertakings to vacate their property, and their proposed amendments sought to challenge several court orders made to date, including permitting the demolition of their home at Faughan Hill, Bohermeen, counsel outlined.Leaving aside the issue of whether the couple could bring their proposed application at all, the council’s position was that they could not do so in the council’s planning enforcement proceedings, Hughes said.Neil McNelis, solicitor for the Murrays, said a range of issues in the proceedings had not been addressed to date for reasons including his clients were in the UK when the council moved to have their house demolished in March. The current application by them, in the form of an application to amend a motion issued on March 23rd last, sought to have those addressed, the court was told.The judge told Hughes that, while he understood the council’s reservations about how the couple wished to proceed, the court was anxious all matters should be addressed.He told McNelis he would hear his application on a date that would be fixed later following consultation with the court’s planning list registrars. The application should proceed as a fresh motion, rather than amendments to a motion issued on behalf of the couple in late March, he directed. The judge also said, having discussed the matter with his colleague, Judge Richard Humphreys, who had made the orders in March clearing the way for demolition of the house, that he [Nolan] would also deal with costs issues in the demolition proceedings. The council is seeking costs of the demolition against the couple, plus its legal costs.It emerged last month that the council’s overall legal costs bill across the 20-year planning enforcement row related to the five-bedroom luxury house had reached more than €640,000. That includes legal bills this year of about €375,000 to date. The council’s overall bill across the 20-year process stands at more than €683,000, including costs of securing the property while demolition works proceeded.The legal saga began after the Murrays, having been refused planning permission in June 2006 for a dormer bungalow at Faughan Hill, built a property on the same site later that year that was 588sq m, twice the size they had originally proposed.The council initiated enforcement action in 2007 and proceedings ran over some two decades, including in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.An application to have them brought before the High Court to answer their contempt was adjourned generally on March 23rd last, with liberty to re-enter, after they gave sworn undertakings, including not to interfere with demolition works initiated days earlier.