Council demolishes house by mistake

A HOUSE valued at €250,000 has been demolished by mistake in Co Limerick.

Luckily the owner was not home when a bulldozer arrived and razed it to the ground. The owner vacated the cottage near the Limerick/Tipperary border at Annaholty recently in order to have it renovated.

But days later she discovered to her horror the house was gone.

Mary O’Shaughnessy had planned to renovate the old stone cottage. Three other houses on the same road were earmarked for demolition to make way for a new road.

Limerick County Council had acquired Compulsory Purchase Orders for these three houses as they stood on the proposed route of the new road. But Ms O’Shaughnessy’s cottage was to stay. However, when the bulldozers moved in last Monday all four houses, including Ms O’Shaughnessy’s were levelled.

All that’s left of her 100-year-old cottage is a pile of rubble and parts of the front door. The National Roads Authority said questions need to be answered as to what happened.

The owner of the stricken building said the matter was in the hands of her solicitor.

Engineers from Limerick County Council visited the demolished house to assess the damage.