Dublin father of two, Brendan McDonagh, who was forced to remove his cabin home from family owned land says new government plans to allow 40 square meter cabins to be built on family land without planning permission is not practical.
Speaking to Gript, McDonagh said that while a “young couple living in their parents’ back garden” might be able to live in a 40 square meter cabin this was “not big enough” for a family such as his own who have children.
As Gript previously reported, McDonagh whose family have lived on the land where the cabin was placed for several generations, did not seek planning permission before erecting it and was embroiled in a fight to gain permission to retain the structure for seven years.
Only weeks after McDonagh gave in to pressure from South Dublin County Council to remove his family’s home, where he and wife Ewelina were raising their young son and daughter, the government announced that it was planning to allow small cabins to be erected on family land in response to the country’s ongoing housing crisis.
Gript spoke to Independent TD Mattie McGrath, who had raised the McDonagh family’s plight before the Dáil and asked for a 10 year moratorium for people living in similar circumstances.
“I’ve been calling for that for eight years,” he said, adding that he believes that such action would solve “a third” of the current housing shortage crisis.
McDonagh said that the cabin he built for his family was 57 square meters saying that his cabin “was very modest” even at that size.
Saying that he doesn’t believe the planned government approved size of cabins is “practical”, he said, “let one of their ministers live in it.”
“Try and live in it yourself for a year,” he said, adding, “if you have one child even, 40 square meters is very up on top of you,”.
“Everyone would be up on top of each other,” he said.
He said that with space at such a premium people living in such cabins would be “watching television beside their little hob,” as he feels there would only be room for an “open plan” kitchen/living room area.
“They have to do something, but they’re building infrastructure all over this country from top to bottom, “he said adding, “but they’re building stuff we can’t afford to buy,”.
McDonagh said that there was still “no help” for him and that South Dublin County Council was not going to “compensate” him or come and “put my house back”.
He said that the costs of trying to save the cabin that was “the only home” his son and daughter “have ever known” have left him owing in the region of 10,000 euro.
To date well wishers have donated just under 4,000 euro to the McDonagh family via a gofundme to help ease the financial burden they now face.
McDonagh said that he was asked to make out an affidavit for SDCC to “prove” that he is “homeless” even though it was the council who forced him to dismantle the cabin he was living in after he was initially refused HAP for being slightly over the income limit.
“We’re still trying to send papers in to activate the HAP,” he said.
“The level of cop-on here is just ridiculous,” he added.
“You made me homeless, do you not talk to each other in there?” he quipped.
“I find the whole thing is just irritating and disgusting to me,” he said.
A welder, he previously told Gript that he first approached the council 8 years ago in hopes of being allocated a council house but was told there was nothing available.
He lamented his loss of a feeling of independence now that he must look for rented accommodation saying, “I wasn’t asking the state for anything”.