Former minister of state Ivor Callely's conversion of a 120 square metre (1,300 sq ft) garage into a house in west Cork breaches the planning laws, Cork County Council has ruled.
The Fianna Fáil TD sought planning retention for the garage conversion next to his family's holiday home at Kilcrohane on the Sheep's Head peninsula last November.
In a report drawn up on January 3rd, the council's executive planner, Seán Taylor, rejected the main part of Mr Callely's application dealing with the conversion of the garage - on the grounds that it amounted to overdevelopment.
"The dwelling has a stated floor area of 136 sq metres and reads as a three-bedroom dwelling with en-suite bathroom on ground-floor level and additional store room on the first floor.
"The height of the building has been increased by almost one metre from that permitted under the previous grant of permission. There are additional windows included at roof level, to the rear and the front of the building," said Mr Taylor's report.
In a split decision, however, Cork County Council's assistant county manager Teresa White refused the garage retention application, but granted the Dublin North Central TD permission to keep a conservatory and an extension to his holiday home which had also been built without permission.
The garage has been a point of controversy between Mr Callely and the planners since he first sought planning permission for it in 1996, with planners fearing that the TD intended to turn the building into a house.
Planning permission was granted in August 1998. However, Mr Callely has not obeyed a local authority instruction issued then that he should screen the garage with native trees, according to the council's planning officer.
"No substantial planting is apparent on the site and the proposal has now been converted into a dwelling house," Mr Taylor noted.
He went on: "The dwelling unit has been constructed in full and is located on the western side of the site. It should be noted that the dwelling is substantial and 136 sq metres in area. The building has a fireplace, which appears to have been constructed from day one and does not in my opinion read as a garage [ that] has been adapted for use as living accommodation."
The county council can now seek an enforcement order to force Mr Callely to turn the dwelling back into a garage, though he has four weeks to appeal the decision to An Bord Pleanála.
