McDowell red-faced over holiday home planning

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell last night found himself in an embarrassing position after it was claimed his designer holiday home in Co Roscommon has no planning permission.

The minister responded to the revelation the €500,000 house on the banks of the River Shannon has no permission by saying it had come as a “bolt out of the blue”.

Late last night the minister said he had learned the house was “substantially” in compliance with the planning conditions.

Sky News last night reported the planning permission for the timber-frame house expired on August 30, the same day materials for constructing it arrived on the site.

According to the report, the minister’s wife, UCD governance professor Niamh Brennan, then applied for an extension of the permission but this was refused by Roscommon County Council.

The basis of the refusal was that the house being constructed was materially different to the one for which permission was granted.

Footage showed work on the four-bedroom, split-level house continuing yesterday, despite its status as an unauthorised construction.

Mr McDowell distanced himself and his wife from any direct involvement in the planning process from the house, saying they had engaged contractors and engineers to take responsibility for constructing the house in accordance with the planning permission.

In a statement, the minister said the first time he learned of any difficulty was when he was contacted by Sky News. He later said he had since learned a planning official had some difficulties with the house but the contractors had assured him the house was in compliance.

He said he and his wife purchased a site with planning permission to build a house in Co Roscommon.

They had, he said, contracted Griffner Coillte, a consortium in which a semi-State company is a 50% partner, to build the house.

He said he and Prof Brennan had also engaged a firm of engineers to prepare the site plan in conformity with the planning permission.

Neither Mr McDowell or his wife had been “notified of any difficulties and have no knowledge of any letter being sent to the engineers by the council earlier this month”.

The revelation, if true, is embarrassing for Mr McDowell, especially in his position as Justice Minister.

It’s the second time in recent years a politician has been embroiled in controversy over a holiday home in Co Roscommon.

In 2000, President Mary McAleese was criticised for not contracting architects to build a house on the shores of Lough Eidin.