A 66-year-old Tipperary man says he is still “struggling away” in the fight to remain in his mobile home as he battles Tipperary County Council who have ordered him to remove the structure off his own land.
As Gript previously reported, Sean Meehan – who lives with his cat, Oscar and two dogs, Lady and Jess in the mobile home – says he was advised by his solicitor that the only option now open to him is to seek a judicial review.
Speaking to Gript, Meehan said he was told that a judicial review of his case would cost €20,000 which is money he says he is in no position to come up with.
“I don’t have 20 grand,” he said, adding that he felt he was “up shit creek”.
To date, he says the fight to save his home has cost him approximately €16.000.
“I don’t know what to do now,” he said, adding that he had applied for free legal aid but is unsure whether he will be approved or not.
“They catch you one way or the other, they run you ragged with money,” he said of his experience in the courts.
Meehan says his next court appearance is on the 20th of February at Cashel District Court where he expects Judge Brian O’Shea to pursue a demolition order on his home which is a mobile home encased in a wooden frame which gives it the appearance of a cabin.
“I’d say what’ll happen is he will just say, look, An Bord Pleanalá have refused your application, your way is shut down,”he said, adding, “I think he will push for demolition,”.
Meehan, who is a cancer survivor, says he continues to receive support from Independent TD Mattie McGrath and Cllr. Niall Dennehy, although so far a solution to his problems has not been found.
As Gript previously reported, last June McGrath raised Meehan’s plight before the Dáil asking that the then government apply a statutory instrument to allow a moratorium for people like Meehan to continue living in mobile homes erected without planning permission in light of the country’s unprecedented housing crisis.
McGrath called the situation “outrageous” saying that all Meehan could do was “hope and pray” that An Bord Pleanála could help him, however this appeal was refused.
Meehan was previously threatened with four months in jail if he refused to remove his home off his property, a threat which he says he believes hasn’t gone away.
Tipperary County Council’s reasons for refusing to grant Meehan retroactive permission to keep his home are as follows: “Having regard to the location of the development the design and nature of the structure the poor esthetic value of the structure and the likelihood of it deteriorating over time by virtue materials used in its construction and the prevailing pattern of development of the area, it is considered that the development for which retention permission is sought.
(a) would form a haphazard and substandard form of residential accommodation and gene or aesthetic value and can detract from the overall appearance of the area.
(b) result in a substandard living environment for the residents of the structure.
(c) would fail to accord with the ‘Development and Design Standards’ for residential structure it in Rural Design Guide, of the Tipperary County Development Plan 2022, by residential structures as the overall design and construction of such structure;
(d) would injure the amenities and depreciate the value of property in the vicinity; set an undesirable precedent for similar type proposals in the area.
(e) would set an undesirable precedent for similar type proposals in the area.