Kildare County Council have served an enforcement letter to a developer retained by the Department of Integration to house refugees in Leixlip.
Historic Ryevale House, a protected structure, has been accommodating 80 international protection applicants since March. The house dates back to the 18th century and was home to famous architect Sam Stephenson. The property was sold for a reported €1.6million in December 2022 to companies under the control of businessman Ronan Mallon.
Kildare County Council has written to a builder working on the property on behalf of Mr Mallon's Coldec Properties company and informed them that changing the purpose of the building from a private residency to a dwelling for people seeking international protection is an “unauthorised development”.
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The letter also warned that anyone found to have carried out an unauthorised development can face fines up to €12.69m or two years’ imprisonment.
However, in response to a parliamentary question posed by Kildare North TD Catherine Murphy, Minister for Integration Roderic O'Gorman said the provider advised his Department that "in the opinion of their planning consultant, the change of the property's use to provide accommodation for international protection applicants does not amount to a material change of use and that planning permission is not required".
The Minister added that the Department has "decided to utilise the facility such is the pressure on the state's accommodation system currently."
Local Councillor Joe Neville told Dublin Live that residents have been left frustrated by the situation and were also caught off guard by the tree felling last month.
"The Council and the Minister have diametrically opposed views," he said.
"Here you have a house that is a protected structure. It's no ordinary house, it was built in the 1750's and has a lot of heritage attached. A house has only so much infrastructure, can have only so much running water etc. And then we were told there was going to be 80 people going in.
"So you're asking, how is the sewage going to impact the neighbours, because there can be sewage issues coming from that house, is there going to be enough water people. And that's normally how these things work. KCC and (councillors) look at it like, right there's a new development going in, what's it going to take, what are going to be the local infrastructure demands...
"Studies are done and your views might be taken on board or negated or not. But at least, that's how a planning process should work and that should be done over the course of a few months."
Councillor Neville expressed concern that the woodland surrounding the house was cut down by during nesting season.
"For anyone who is staying there, I'm sure they would have liked the trees. It looked a lot nicer a few weeks ago," he said.
"Around a protected structure, you can't impact the area the same way you might with just a few fields or whatever else. With a protected structure you have to keep it in character with the local area. You can't replace the 100-year-old trees."
A spokesperson for the Department of Integration told Dublin Live: "This property is privately owned and in that sense, the provider has advised that a report from a contracted arborist on the felling that has occurred has been provided to a representative from the National Parks and Wildlife Service. This representative also attended the site on Friday 5 May and the accommodation provider gave a statement on the matter to them."
Dublin Live has contacted Coldec Properties for comment.
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