Woman wins bid to retain family home

A woman has won her battle to save her family home of 14 years after a judge ruled that the property should not be demolished.

Katie Fortune, who resides on a chalet located on lands at Carrigeenshinnagh, Lough Dan, Roundwood, Co Wicklow, had asked the High Court to overturn a decision of Wicklow Circuit Court requiring that the structure be demolished or removed.

Ms Fortune has lived on the site since 1999 with her two children. Wicklow County Council argued the structure lacked planning permission and was an unauthorised development and should be demolished.

In his judgment yesterday, Mr Justice Gerard Hogan said he was refusing to make an order that the chalet be demolished on the basis that the council had failed to produce any compelling evidence that the dwelling was completely at odds with important public policy objectives.

While located in “an outstanding area of natural beauty”, the judge said the chalet was “entirely hidden away from view” and did not “detract from any of the great vistas which are one of the glories of the Wicklow uplands”.

Any order to demolish the chalet represented “a drastic interference” with Ms Fortune’s property rights, he added. The judge also ordered Ms Fortune to operate the effluent system external to the dwelling in a manner compatible with existing EPA guidelines.

The case arose after Wicklow Council initiated proceedings in 2009 against Ms Fortune, and her brother, Johnny Fortune, under section 160 of the Planning and Development Act 2000.

In 2011, Wicklow Circuit Court granted the council various orders requiring the Fortunes to demolish and cease occupation of the chalet and other structures on the lands, including a mobile home, a chicken coop and a caravan. Ms Fortune claimed the demolition of her home would compromise her constitutional guarantee under article 40.5 of the Constitution safeguarding the inviolability of the dwelling.

Wicklow Council claimed that any failure to make a demolition in this case would undermine the protection for the environment, and would reward Ms Fortune for having built an unauthorised development.

The council also claimed if a demolition order was not granted, it could set a precedence and compromise the Wicklow Mountains as a special area of conservation.

The proceedings in relation to the other structures on the site, which are also claimed to lack planning permission, will be dealt with at a later date.