Couple Ordered to Demolish House - any update?

Muahahaha · 17-03-2026 02:40AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124317807#Comment_124317807

Id definitely buy a ticket to it anyway. And speaking of claws they should use one of these bad boys, the Ferma 300. This yolk could do a quick jab to the front door to bring the porch down and then a pincer movement on the chimney before giving the huge conservatory a beautiful backhand swipe following right through it.

Kaisr Sose · 17-03-2026 02:54AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124318516#Comment_124318516

Sad to see any family lose their home.

It's worth highlighting in case you missed the real story here…They built that home without planning permission after being denied permission to build on land they knew on purchase could not be built on due to a sterilisation clause.

What exactly are we to be sorry for ? They knew the risks, but decided the planning rules did not apply to them

Rather than being sorry for them, most people would probably say "you reap what you sow"

zell12 · 17-03-2026 07:13AM

They tried one last ruse

On March 13 2025, the Murrays offered to withdraw their ongoing legal proceedings and indicated they would transfer the €1m+ property & lands to the Council – once they agreed to let them stay in their home for another three years and pay the standard local-authority rent.
“It is our client’s view that it simply does not make sense in the current environment or otherwise, for the council to undertake demolition of the house and all that surrounds it, for the sole purposes of establishing a very negative and shortsighted precedent,” the letter from their solicitors said. “To do this would be at enormous costs for the ratepayers of County Meath and a pointless exercise… All this can be avoided if the council acquires ownership of the land on which the house is located and then donate it to accommodate the urgent needs of a suitable charitable organisation.”
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/it-does-not-make-sense-to-demolish-it-couple-in-meath-planning-row-asked-council-to-donate-house-to-charity/a1889629485.html

Glaceon · 17-03-2026 10:04AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124318516#Comment_124318516

I said this before but this house would never have been allowed to stand. It would have set a precedent that you could build whatever you like in Meath and get away with it. It certainly would have been used by defence solicitors in all sorts of planning cases.

El Tarangu · 17-03-2026 12:35PM

Finally, after 6 years, this thread has some sort of update.

Cole train · 17-03-2026 12:42PM

It's actually hilarious, and I hope the next chapter of their lives involves paying back 100s of thousands of legal fees and residence in a homeless shelter.

Mellor · 17-03-2026 12:46PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124318516#Comment_124318516

The home was built illegally. They knew exactly the risk they were taking. If they built somethign modest, they likely could have retained it.

The planning system is not perfect, but ignoring the law, doing something obnoxiously over the top, and spending decades throwing legal fees away, is an absolutely idiotic was to deal with the situation.

John_Rambo · 17-03-2026 12:47PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124318516#Comment_124318516

It is sad for their children. Through no fault of their own they are losing the family home they were raised in, and their parents have effectively voided any chance of succession. But ultimately the responsibility lies with the parents. While many people go through the planning process even for minor alterations to their homes, this couple built a house after being specifically told they could not build what they eventually did.

The planning process exists for everyone. If it is ignored, situations like this are the result.

It should also serve as a warning to others thinking of doing the same. You're 100% right…. If people flaunt planning laws and act like cowboys, cases like this will not be isolated in the years ahead.

muffler · 17-03-2026 12:51PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124318516#Comment_124318516

"curtain twitchers" and from a previous post of yours "keyboard warriors" . What a childish way to describe other posters here who don't share your opinion. Your opinion btw is very much in the minority in this thread.

Novice Self-Build · 17-03-2026 01:03PM

John Rambo

That's a fair comment. Yes, their children are the ultimate victims. There are no winners in this situation and the family are paying the ultimate price. Perhaps if the house was less than 300sqm there would have been a different outcome.

dubrov · 17-03-2026 01:08PM

I really can't believe they just walked away.

Some deal must've been done and I didn't think watching the council's legal fees would be enough

Mellor · 17-03-2026 01:15PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124319264#Comment_124319264

I agree to an extent. The children are blameless, and their parents have squandered a significantly amount of what would otherwise be inheritance. But at the same time, the kids are presumably adults now, and were presumably aware of this issue as long as they are aware of property/inheritance etc. It's not like they'll were sat down to bad news this week.

this couple built a house after being specifically told they could not build what they eventually did.

Minor correction. They were told that couldn't be a normal size dormer bungalow. So they built one that was twice the size instead.

magicbastarder · 17-03-2026 01:16PM

the children are adults, aren't they? unless they live in the house, they're not losing anything except a possible inheritance. world's smallest violin, unfortunately.

chooseusername · 17-03-2026 01:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124319328#Comment_124319328

Minor correction, they were told they could not build ANY kind of residence on that sterile site.

alias no.9 · 17-03-2026 01:35PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124319351#Comment_124319351

More than that, there was a sterilisation order on it before they bought the land and it had no development potential, no doubt it was priced accordingly

davetherave · 17-03-2026 01:36PM

>Perhaps if the house was less than 300sqm there would have been a different outcome.

You don't seem to be getting it. Two previous planning applications on the land had a sterilisation order it. No residential, no non-agricultural development. This shower were refused planning permission for a 283 sq m building on the same basis, then went ahead and built something twice that size. Council refused retention after the fact. High court issued a demolition order, Supreme court upheld the High Court ruling.

What different outcome would you expect?

SimpleDimple · 17-03-2026 01:53PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124319303#Comment_124319303

the winners are the good law avoiding people of Ireland. These chancers were made an example of for their constant contempt for the law, which the rest of us follow. There was no acceptable solution but this outcome, otherwise it sets a precedent that no one should have to adhere to planning laws.

Seth Brundle · 17-03-2026 02:04PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124319303#Comment_124319303

...the family are paying the ultimate price

The Murrays made a conscious choice to ignore the rules and invested more time and money challenging something they knew could not be allowed to stay. They chose to start digging themselves into a hole. They chose to keep digging deeper, time after time. If they are paying a price, it is because their actions have been incredibly stupid but it is entirely down to their choices and actions - nobody else forced them to do what they did.

Leg End Reject · 17-03-2026 02:27PM

What an extraordinary waste of money and time, councils need to be given the power to enforce demolitions sooner in cases like this. Six months statutory notice that can't be appealed, then eviction if necessary, followed by demolition as soon as practically possible. All costs recouped by reduction at source.

A few sob stories in the news would stop others chancing their arm like this.

Mellor · 17-03-2026 03:04PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124319351#Comment_124319351

Sure, the sterilisation meant they wouldn't have been able to. I was refer to the house that that applied for.
Likely that the decision said "you can't built this house, or any house".
Was a few applications thrown about for a few years under different names etc.

chooseusername · 17-03-2026 06:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124319371#Comment_124319371

The image above is from 2005. Planning was granted for a bungalow in July 2005 in the bottom left of the field where the foundations are already laid. The field was probably made sterile then. Work hadn't started on Murray's house at that stage. The next map available is 2009 and the house and landscaping is completed by then. (below)

Murrays applied for permission for a modest bungalow in the same field in May 2006. This was refused in July 2006.

8 months later in March 2007 the much bigger house was built and they were applying for their first retention. This was refused in May 2007.

There followed 5 or 6 further retention applications in the names of either Michael or his wife Rose all for the same site.

Lewis_Benson · 18-03-2026 03:58PM

Delighted for the Murrays.

Live By the sword....

Novice Self-Build · 18-03-2026 05:20PM

The fake outrage by people who live no where near that house or want to view the demolition of the house is simply hilarious. 😁

Please don't break your keyboard when replying.....👍

Quantum Erasure · 18-03-2026 05:31PM

Shur the kids are probably grown up and moved out at this stage, no need for a house that big for the parents now they'd probably be thinking of downsizing anyway

Leg End Reject · 18-03-2026 05:33PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124322179#Comment_124322179

You need a property to sell to downsize though, otherwise you're starting from scratch.

paddyisreal · 18-03-2026 05:35PM

do find it funny how a certain sector ignore every planning law and build what they want without planing. I wonder will the same apply to this group

Novice Self-Build · 18-03-2026 06:03PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124322193#Comment_124322193

There is no need to bring politicians into the discussion. They can't help themselves....

Novice Self-Build · 18-03-2026 06:27PM

planning permission started in 1964. The ruin of Georgian Dublin, and endless Vape, Barber and phone shops in towns happened under the watch of council planners.

Common sense rather than council policy on urban/rural planning was far more sympathetic to the landscape.

Dont even get me started on An Bord Pleanala, criminal prosecutions and brown envelopes.

We won't let people build a family home on their own land but we will shortly have a policy where you can build a modular home in your garden, with no planning permission. Shanty towns in housing estates that already have major parking and service issues.

Building such a big house was taking the Mick, but to suggest that planning is a fair, transparent process is also taking the Mick.