Men within their rights to have church building demolished

THE OWNERS of a landmark former church building near Croke Park had the law on their side when they began demolition work on it three years ago, the High Court has ruled.

Mr Justice John MacMenamin said the consequence of his decision, that partial demolition work on the former Methodist Church on Jones’s Road did not require planning permission, would be its entire demolition. He has adjourned making specific orders for two weeks.

He was giving his reserved judgment upholding a challenge by Co Mayo businessman John Healy to decisions by Dublin City Council and An Bord Pleanála that the demolition work on the building was not exempted development.

Mr Healy, with Adrian McNally, Liam Healy and Sham Rudden Abehim, bought the building in January 2007. It had been used for commercial purposes for a number of years and the purchasers planned to redevelop it.

While conscious the church was a local landmark, a familiar point of reference for Croke Park patrons, and that his decision may annoy and frustrate local residents, it was the duty of the court to uphold the law, he said.

Mr Justice MacMenamin noted the building had no architectural, archaeological, environmental or scientific designation and was not identified as a protected structure in the city development plan 2005-2011. Before they bought it, the partners examined the legal status of the property and were satisfied there were no restrictions on its demolition, the judge said.

Regulations introduced in 2008 around the same time as the demolition work was carried out did not come into force in time to save this building. This was a single integrated development which started before the regulations came in, he ruled. Therefore it must be treated as what it was at the outset, an exempted development.

Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

Firm ordered to rebuild razed convent in only three months

A COMPANY which illegally demolished a 19th-century convent earmarked for preservation has been ordered to rebuild it by next November.

Dublin City Council has instructed developers Kimpton Vale and its principal, Laurence Keegan, to reinstate the Presentation Convent in Terenure after it was razed on November 5 last.

The demolition happened just two weeks after the council began the process of adding it to the Record of Protected Structures (RPS).

But despite already serving an enforcement notice on the company obliging it to rebuild the convent, the council was forced to withdraw it because the title of the property was in doubt. The original enforcement notice obliged Kimpton Vale to rebuild the convent by last March.

However, it later emerged that the property was conveyed to Laurence Keegan in May 2006, meaning another notice had to be served on both the company and Mr Keegan.

Yesterday it appeared that little work had been done on re-instating the convent, which was described as being in "good condition" when sold for €15m in April last year.

But it was demolished the following November -- just weeks after the council began to consider adding it to the record of protected structures.

Bulldozers moved in to demolish the convent at 7am on November 4 and by the time a dangerous buildings officer arrived at 9.30am, so much was razed that the remainder had to be demolished on public safety grounds.

The company also faces legal proceedings because it failed to secure planning permission before demolishing the convent, and may be fined up to €12.7m.

The 1830s convent was part of a three-acre site on Terenure Road West sold for infill development.

Yesterday it emerged the convent would have to be reinstated "to the satisfaction of the planning department of Dublin City Council".

Anyone seeking to demolish a "habitable" building is required to get permission prior to the work being carried out.

A council spokesperson confirmed the building was to be reinstated, but refused to comment further as the matter is now the subject of legal proceedings.

Irish Independent