Couple Ordered to Demolish House - any update?

And Bertie just missed out on a Presidential nomination

No, he didn't. He never had a hope in hell of being nominated, and he well knew it

I know a house , and fairly large it is too, a mile from where I live. Built in the centre of a large farm of land, well well away from the road. It’s only visible from a distance from a certain spot on a slight hill a good bit away. I was walking the dog one day and spotted it being built. Me being the curious type, I figured out exactly where it was and drove over later to have a look, but I only got as far as a large set of gates at the end of a byroad. I looked up the Co.Co.planning website, and there was never planning either applied for or granted for this house. It’s clearly visible on google earth. There is another house on the land, the original farmhouse. I presume the newer house utilises/shares water/electric/waste water supply with the original farmhouse, it’s all in the one family. As long as they never sell, they’re never going to get caught.

There’s also a pool hall being run near my mother’s house in sheds that were granted PP for use as “furniture storage”. There’s a very specific clause in the PP that was granted , that very particularly prohibits the running of ANY business in these sheds. Yet a pool hall has been there for ages and not a peep out of the council.

I think you would have needed planning permission,I don't think there was a mortgage, have the family mentioned one?

Unknown if they had a mortgage or paid for it themselves. We've theorised here previously that it's likely they got their ESB connection by just giving the planning reference number of their refused application to the ESB, the ESB likely didn't check if it was granted/refused, and connected their house.

It's possible they did the same with a mortgage, but I doubt it to be honest because as lax as the banks themselves may have been at the time, throwing huge mortgages at people because it was 2006-ish and nothing would ever stop how great things were, solicitors still do an awful lot of checks and it likely would have been flagged.

I'd say they most likely built it with their own money. He had his own plumbing company and all tradesemen were making huge money at the time. Add into that his connections which meant he could probably get other trades/builders and even some materials that bit cheaper.

Council and courts have to carry out demolition, any other outcome would clearly muddy the waters going forward. Coincidentally we were in the process in 2005 buying a site in a rural area, we appointed an architect and got guidance on what size, neither too big or too small, of house and all the do's and don'ts when applying for planning permission. We got it first time , started building in May 2006, top prices of Celtic Boom were in force. Stuck rigidly to all the conditions of PP, paid the council capital contribution. One of the conditions was we couldn't sell the house until 5 years has elapsed, arse had fallen out of house prices, we were potentially €150k down on what it had cost to build.

To be honest that couple are reaping what they sowed, all on them and them alone.