Last orders: Council's order to deconstruct pub extension gets thrown out
Declan Doyle at Doyles pub on Fleet Street, Dublin: Judge ruled the invalidation of the commencement notice — which was the basis for the council pursuing Mr Doyle — 'offended the principles of natural justice'. Picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins
An attempt by a local authority to have an extension to a landmark pub “deconstructed” was thrown out by a court this week in a case that was described by an expert witness as being more concerned with “punishment” rather than enforcing planning laws.
The case concerned an extension to a landmark Dublin pub, Doyles of Fleet Street. The proprietor, Declan Doyle, bought the premises next door, a disused bookie’s shop, in order to extend the pub. He received planning permission for the venture but the permission had lapsed by the time he began works in 2020.
He was under the impression he did not have to renew the permission as he would be covered by a universal extension granted due to the covid pandemic. This extension, however, only covered residential and not commercial buildings.
As a result, his commencement notice was deemed invalid, despite all of the appropriate certificates required to begin work being completed. Ordinarily, this would be considered a procedural issue that could be resolved by the council issuing a fine and construction continuing.
The works did continue, including extensive renovations to install a new fire exit. The second and third storeys of the premises are reserved as a hostel for homeless women so the new fire escape was deemed necessary for safety reasons.
This work and extensive renovation of the basement of the former bookie’s office were done and all of the certificates required under current building regulations, including fire safety and disability access, were completed and in order.
In December 2021, two inspectors from the council’s building control department visited the site. Six days later, Mr Doyle was issued with a warning notice to deconstruct all the works that had been undertaken.
No specific contraventions of the building law were cited in the letter but there was a warning that the publican could be subjected to a criminal prosecution, which could result in “imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months” and a fine of up to €5,000.
The work was paused and attempts were made to engage with the council through Mr Doyle’s engineer, David O’Connor of Knapton Chartered Engineers.
Mr O’Connor repeatedly asked the council what deficiencies were in the constructed work that required the whole thing to be “deconstructed”. He did not receive an answer for 13 months. Finally, three minor aspects of the construction were cited.
Despite that, two further warning letters were issued. In the final letter, the senior building surveyor, Pat Nestor, alleged Mr Doyle’s decision to ignore his obligations to deconstruct and instead “focus your efforts on obfuscation and confusion to avoid compliance with your statutory obligations will no longer be tolerated”. The letter went on to say matters would now move on to “initiate criminal proceedings against you”.
Mr Doyle appealed the decision to the district court and retained an independent engineer as an expert witness. Michael Lyons, the principal of Michael Lyons & Associates, prepared a report in which he stated he found it “professionally startling” that the Building Control Authority (BCA) did not, despite repeated requests, specify what had not been done properly in the construction.
“I have to say I am left astonished that the BCA have rushed towards an enforcement notice rather than engage in a dialogue with the professionals on the project,” he reported.
“It comes across to me more as a Punishment Notice than an Enforcement Notice of building standards. I do not say this lightly, as I find that there is nothing unusual in the construction works as carried out at Fleet Street to merit the nuclear option decided upon by the BCA in requiring the 'de-constructing' of all the works undertaken.”
Judge Anthony Halpin’s ruling came to the same conclusion. He told the court it was the most difficult case he had dealt with in his 15 years on the bench.
Ordinarily, a case of that length might require a reserved judgement, but Judge Halpin issued his ruling on the final day of the hearing. He found the invalidation of the commencement notice — which was the basis for the council pursuing Mr Doyle — “offended the principles of natural justice”.
He found the warning letter had insufficient detail about what exactly had been done outside building regulations to require deconstruction and the actual alleged deficiencies were only made known over a year later.
And he found the enforcement notice was invalid and there was no requirement to deconstruct what had been built. The judge awarded costs to Mr Doyle.
Declan Doyle told the he was very disappointed with Dublin City Council’s handling of the whole issue.
“It was as if we were being treated as second-class citizens,” he said. “We had hoped to transfer the licence in October 2021 and get the new venture up and running but this has completely set us back. We had an assessment done which showed that the whole thing has cost about €860,000. I don’t think we were treated very fairly.”
A spokesperson for Dublin City Council said no decision had been reached on whether to appeal the ruling, which would necessitate a full rehearing of the case in the circuit court.
“The court ruling will be considered before making any decision in this regard,” the spokesperson said.
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