A half-built house on a scenic site on the Ring of Kerry is to be demolished after the owners this week failed to win councillors' support to overturn planners' refusals for the building.
The failure of the Section 140 motion to complete the unauthorised building came as a surprise, as Kerry councillors pass practically every such motion directing the county manager to grant permission for developments.
Before the vote, Killarney Circuit Court had issued a conditional order to have the building removed, and the Kerry county manager, Mr Martin Nolan, warned councillors that to grant permission for the unauthorised house would send out all the wrong signals.
It would set a precedent for developers to ignore planning laws and would be "very unfair" to the majority of citizens who respected the decisions of the planning authority, he said.
Mr James Wharton and Ms Susan Wharton were refused permission four times (twice on appeal to An Bord Pleanála) for their four-bedroom home on the family farm, four miles from Kenmare, overlooking Kenmare Bay.
In the Circuit Court in Killarney, Judge Sean O'Leary handed down an order for demolition, but put a stay on the order to allow the couple get a Section 140 motion at Kerry County Council.
The Whartons' barrister, Mr Joe Revington, said Mr Wharton had started building his house after he received a favourable report from a Bord Pleanála inspector in the autumn of 2000.
On Monday, the Whartons failed to get the support of the three-quarters majority of councillors necessary to pass the motion: 18 voted for, three abstained, one voted against and five were absent. The motion was put forward by Cllrs Michael Connor-Scarteen (FG), Mayor Michael Healy-Rae (FG) and Cllr P. J. Donovan (FG).