Two weeks ago I wrote about a “mysterious development” that had sprouted like a mushroom overnight at the end of August in the scenic environs of Brittas, County Dublin.
The foundations for a modular home development were in the process of being laid beside the Chianti Park mobile homes park, which itself has had no planning permission. This had been made known to Independent Ireland Councillor Linda de Courcy who had brought it to the attention of South Dublin County Council.
As of last week SDCC had issued a warning letter, but no enforcement order. The Council told Councillor de Courcy that “Due to the complex history of the site, the council is currently reviewing the options open to the Planning Authority.” They would not say who owned the site.
The Council informed me this morning that the entire matter is “sub judice” and that they cannot make any further comment.
I had been constrained in what I wrote on September 29 and it was only yesterday that one of the principals emerged from the shadows. Paddy Byrne of Branach Developments wrote to all South Dublin County Councillors responding to various issues which I will return to.
A subsequent inquiry from myself elicited the information that Branch Developments do not own the site. Who owns the site then?.
Branach Developments is owned entirely by Paddy Byrne with an address in Caragh, County Kildare. Byrne also owns Victoria Homes, and has a half share in another company called Branach Holdings.
Byrne is also registered with the CRO as the 99% owner of Barrack Construction Limited. He was replaced as the sole director and Siobhán Byrne was replaced as company secretary in February this year. The new directors are Richard McDermott, Keith McDermott and David McDermott and the latter is also the secretary of Barrack Construction.
Barrack Construction would not have appeared to be an attractive target for the McDermotts given that the company had been liquidated and had registered net liabilities of €22.5 million in its last financial statement registered at the end of 2023. In March, the company changed its address to College House, Rock Road, Blackrock.
That was signed by Richard, or Richie, McDermott who has had extensive involvement in the Dublin pub trade. The College House address is also that of Fairkeep which is owned by Polarside, whose directors are the three McDermotts, and the owners of which are David and Keith McDermott.
Readers will perhaps recall them as having become the owners of the D Hotel in Drogheda which I reported on last year. The D Hotel, despite strong local objections, is now a large IPAS centre and has become a major earner for the McDermotts, through Fairkeep, picking up a cool €5.4 million in its first three months of operation as a centre.
That has been the major contributor to the total haul of almost €50 million for Polarside between 2022 and the most recent return published for the second quarter of 2025. Another McDermott owned company, Boogran, has received over €10 million. Boogran has the contract for the IPAS centre at the Carnegie Hotel in Swords. Polarside registered a profit of €17 million at the end of 2024 with net assets of €30.2 million.
Residents of Chianti Park have a number of concerns. Foremost of these is that they are uncertain whether they will be able to remain in their homes. They were also in the dark as to whom they were now paying their rent and whether that might be increased.
Some were also worried as to what the developers might be planning to do with the modular homes. The latter concern included whether there might be plans to use the homes for the provision of accommodation for persons under the responsibility of IPAS.
That is among matters addressed in yesterday’s letter, signed by Paddy Byrne on behalf of Branach Developments and addressed to “all elected members” of SDCC. The letter begins by referring to “a series of serious and deliberate attacks” on equipment at the site and that the incidents “coincide with the circulation of false and malicious rumours suggesting that Chianti Park is being developed as an IPAS (International Protection Accommodation Service) site. This is entirely false.”
The connection between Byrne, who owns Barrack Construction, and its new directors the McDermotts makes this a plausible concern, but we must accept Byrne’s assurances that there is currently no plan to use the modular homes as asylum accommodation.
Byrne states that there is “no agreement, proposal or application” to use the site as asylum accommodation or “State-directed housing.” Byrne informs Councillors that the development is “fully in line with the Minister for Housing’s national housing objectives under Section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, which direct planning authorities to facilitate the renewal, upgrading and replacement of existing residential units.”
The problem, as highlighted by Councillor de Courcy and as recognised by the Council itself by sending a warning letter in August to Branach, is that there appears to be no planning application of any description registered with the local planning authority.
While Section 28 allows that the Minister “can issue guidelines,” Section 34 of the 2000 Act requires that “an application is made to a planning authority in accordance with permission regulations for permission for the development of land.”
Section 28 does not allow a developer an exemption from such requirements. In any event, there has never been planning permission granted for this site. Chianti Park, as I explained in the earlier piece, was only allowed to remain on the basis of a Supreme Court ruling that “the 15 years between the original planning refusal and the enforcement action was inordinate.” The law at the time allowed for a 5-year period for enforcement actions.
This is arguably a new development and as such would seem to require proper planning applications, assessments and permissions. As the Council warning letter indicates, none of these were or are being processed as work on the site continues.
I contacted both Paddy Byrne and the Planning Department of SDCC to ask if there was specific notification under Section 28 or if there had been a planning application and notification under Section 34 given that it was not an exempted development.
SDCC replied to state that “The Council has investigated the matter in accordance with the planning regime. This is now sub judice, and as such the Council is unable to comment further at this stage.”
Paddy Byrne stated that “While Section 28 itself does not create exemptions from permission under Section 34, the Department has issued various guidelines — including on sustainable residential development, housing supply and delivery, and compact growth — that inform planning authorities’ approach and are relevant to works at Chianti Park.”
He notes that the land has “an established residential use dating back to 1968,” and that “the current works involve renovating and upgrading long-standing dwellings for the private rental market.” And on that basis that “The development is proceeding having regard to the relevant statutory framework, established residential use, and national policy guidance, and we continue to liaise with the Council where appropriate.
The work being carried out is new construction, not renovation and upgrading.”
With regard to the warning letter issued by SDCC in August, Byrne said that they had informed the Council that “Branach Developments Ltd is neither the owner nor the occupier of the lands; we were acting only as contractor, and we advised the Council that the letter was misdirected.”
I asked him if that was the case, then who does own the site but received no response to that.