Former Fianna Fáil TD Mr Liam Lawlor has applied to South Dublin County Council to have his €4 million home in Lucan rezoned for use as a nursing home. Mr Lawlor, who may be forced to sell the property, Somerton House, to pay outstanding legal bills, has told the council a rezoning for nursing home or recreational use would be "eminently sensible", writes Paul Cullen.
Somerton, an early 19th-century Georgian house which is on the list of protected structures, would be "retained and maintained" under any rezoning, according to a letter sent by Mr Lawlor and his wife, Hazel, to the council.
The letter also seeks to have the stables, piers and other outbuildings in the six acres of land around Somerton taken off the list of protected structures because, according to the Lawlors, they were built in the 1970s and have no architectural merit.
The manager of South Dublin County Council, Mr Joe Horan, has rejected the Lawlors' submission. Mr Horan said Somerton House is not considered suitable for a nursing home. Recreational uses for the property are already permitted under its existing open space zoning, he pointed out.
Mr Horan also rejected the application to have structures removed from the list of protected structures. The piers and stables form part of the curtilage of Somerton House, and therefore enjoy the same protection afforded to the house, he said.
The final decision on the Lawlors' application will be made by the newly-elected councillors later this year. Last year, Ms Lawlor sought to have Somerton included in the area designated for the Adamstown development zone, a "fast-track" high-density housing development projected to have a population of over 20,000. Such a rezoning would have greatly enhanced the land value.
However, neither Mr Lawlor nor his wife turned up at the oral hearings on the Adamstown proposal, and their land was not included in the final designated area.
The planning tribunal holds a lien of almost €430,000 over Somerton in respect of legal bills arising from Mr Lawlor's court battles with the tribunal.
The tribunal's proceedings against the former politician were adjourned earlier this year to allow separate proceedings brought by Mr Lawlor's former solicitor, Mr Dermot P. Coyne, to go ahead. Mr Coyne is claiming €275,000 in unpaid legal bills.
Mr Lawlor has said he transferred ownership of the house and lands to his wife in 1997, but lawyers for the tribunal have said they do not accept the validity of this transfer.