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Dublin man Brendan McDonagh, who erected a log cabin on family land, has said he has had “no choice” but to remove the structure due to a court order.
Speaking to Gript, the father of two said that he appeared before Dublin District Court this morning to inform Judge Anthony J. Halpin that he had dismantled his home.
As Gript previously reported, McDonagh built the cabin on family owned land after being unable to secure conventional housing for his family of four.
McDonagh, who told Gript he first sought the help of South Dublin County Council (SDCC) to house his family eight years ago, did not seek permission before erecting the cabin and has been battling to obtain permission from the local authority to retain the structure ever since.
The council claims that the cabin is not in keeping with its development plans for the area insofar as it “does not adhere to regional planning guidelines” and that “granting retrospective planning permission would set an undesirable precedent” as well as leading to a “demand for uneconomical provision of services in the area”.
Last November, McDonagh says he was told by his then legal representative to “pack a bag” and prepare to be jailed for his failure to remove the cabin as per the instructions of SDCC.
Speaking to Gript today, he said during his last appearance before the courts in late November he had been advised that his only options were to take the cabin down or appeal the decision of the District Court to the High Court.
He said that his legal team had “walked away” from the case as he had not removed the cabin, but hopes of securing new representation in time for his court appearance this morning had been unsuccessful due to the Christmas period when many legal professionals are on annual leave.
“They said there was nothing more that they could do because I was non-compliant with the order and they couldn’t force me to do it anymore than they did,” he said, adding, “I was left with no real support going back in front of the judge again”.
He said that his only option now was to try and sell the deconstructed cabin in hopes of covering the costs of dismantling it which he says was in the region of €6,000.
McDonagh said that on top of the loss of the cabin which he said was “the only home” his children “have ever known”, he has also been ordered to pay €5,100 in legal costs to SDCC which he said he doesn’t have.
A family member has set up a gofundme drive in hopes on easing the financial burden on Brendan and Ewelina.
He said that he managed to argue the fees down to €2,000 and is to appear before the same court again next January to see if the money has been paid.
He said the “pressure” of the case and not having “enough time” to pursue a High Court appeal had put significant strain on the mental health of his wife, Ewelina.
Ewelina previously told Gript that the stress of seven years of fighting to save her home had led her to be prescribed anti-anxiety medication.
“She’s physically not able for it,” said McDonagh.
“I don’t blame her,” he said, adding, “her mental health is more important than a cabin even though we were left with nowhere to live and debt as well.”
“We have no money and nowhere to live.” he said,
He said that he feared that even if he did continue the fight through the courts, it could leave his family with mounting debts “and still nowhere to live.”
He said he previously had to pay €2,000 in costs to SDCC plus a fine of €500 to the courts after “arguing them down” from an original legal bill of €6,000.
“I was given twelve months to pay that and I had it paid within the year,” he said.
He said knowing that he was due back in court “two weeks after Christmas” was “absolutely horrible”.
“It was very stressful, it’s not the first Christmas they did this to me,” he said, adding, “it was always looming over your head like a dark cloud,”.
He said that his children “know” that their parents are “stressed” and that daughter Mia, who is almost ten, now understands “what’s going on”.
“She knows what’s going on, she knows we’re fighting to keep her home,” he said, adding that the children still haven’t seen the cabin “taken down”.
“We don’t want to bring them down to it because it would break their hearts,” he said, adding, “That was the only home they ever knew”.
McDonagh said that SDCC have still not offered his family a house, and that all they have been offered is emergency accommodation “on Gardiner St. or Swords” which he says he feels are unsuitable.
McDonagh said that it could take “up to two hours” to reach school from the emergency accommodation offered, and that Gardiner St. in particular was “unsafe”.
“They were putting us twenty odd miles away from the kids’ school in traffic to live in a hostel.”
He said that on his last visit to SDCC he and Ewelina had shown the court order for the demolition of their cabin and explained that they were being made homeless.
“After 10 or 15 minutes they came back out and said, ‘We don’t have anything for you,’”he explained.
He said that moving into a hostel would mean that he had to “phone the council at seven in the evening to find out where you were going to sleep that night,” as it was not certain if or where accommodation would be available on a daily basis.
“It’s unrealistic accommodation,” he said, adding, “It’s not security for the kids.”
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