A construction company which built 52 holiday homes in Co Tipperary without proper planning permission has ignored a council request to demolish the houses.
South Tipperary County Council is now planning to take legal action against the developer, Liam Campion of Campion Construction Ltd, a company based at Borris-in-Ossory, Co Laois.
The two-storey houses were built on a prominent site close to the Rock of Cashel. Following complaints to the council, planning inspectors discovered that "the works had not been carried out in compliance with planning permission".
In May, it issued an enforcement order demanding that the company cease all development at the site, remove the 52 houses, and restore the land to its condition prior to the commencement of the development. But the company has continued to ignore the order. The council has now referred the file to its legal advisers and is expected to take the matter to the courts in the autumn.
Campion Construction did not return calls from The Irish Times. The company's architect, Frank Ennis & Associates, of Blackrock, Co Dublin, claimed in June that their client "has technical issues to be resolved and is in discussions with South Tipperary County Council". It is understood that no such discussions have taken place.
The holiday homes - on an elevated 15-acre site in the townland of Ballypadeen outside Cashel - are visible to motorists on the main Dublin to Cork road. Mr Campion had also received planning permission to build "an international trade centre", an "international arbitration centre" and "a 120-room aparthotel" with restaurants, lounge bars, conference rooms, swimming pools and a car park. However, neither the hotel nor the international trade and arbitration centres have been built and the site appears to have been abandoned.
Permission was granted subject to conditions which stipulated the use of the homes would be ancillary to the hotel and not used as permanent residences.
Michael Parsons
© 2007 The Irish Times
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