Verbatim in Triplicate - Village Magazine

PB October 2023 October 2023 29

In the case of

Councillor Declan

McDonnell, his

submission appeared

just one minute after

the developer’s

Verbatim in Triplice

Consultants’ submission on behlf of Mry Hrrie Mdden repliced

verbim by hree Councillors: McDonnell, McNelis nd Lrkin

An Bord Pleanála has previously

upheld three planning appeals by

third parties after Galway City

Council awarded planning

permission each time for the

hree Galway City

councillors appear to

have copied a

developer’s letter in an

attempt to lobby the

Minister for Housing, Darragh

O’Brien TD, to ignore a

recommendation made by the

O ce of the Planning Regulator

(OPR).

A submission, made by planning

and environmental consultants,

MKO, on behalf of Mary Harriet

Madden, was replicated verbatim

by three Galway City Councillors:

Declan McDonnell (Ind, former PD,

former Mayor), Niall McNelis (Lab,

former Mayor) and Noel Larkin

(Ind).

All three letters appeared on the

Council website within hours of

Madden’s submission. In the case

of Councillor McDonnell, his

submission appeared just one

minute after Madden’s, suggesting

that he had access to that letter

before his own submission.

The letters were submissions on

the Galway City Development Plan

2023-2029, which was adopted by

the Council in November 2022 and

ignored the recommendations of

the OPR relating to 26 separate

elements of the plan, including

provisions to build homes on the

Galway ﬂ oodplain.

Having been alerted to the plan

by the OPR, the Minister issued a

draft direction in January of this

year, reversing the decision to

ignore the recommendations of the

OPR. In his letter to the council,

O’Brien stated that the plan “fails

Copyc. McNelis, McDonnell nd Lrkin submi similr

submissions o Miniser’s reversl of plnning zones

By Conor O’Crroll

to set out an overall strategy for the

proper planning and sustainable

development of the area”, and “is

inconsistent with national and

regional policy objectives speciﬁ ed

in the National Planning

Framework”.

As part of this procedure, the

Ministerial Draft Direction was

subject to public consultation.

Over 60 submissions were made,

the majority of which came from

Councillors.

The land in question is owned by

Sunmile Limited, a real estate

company owned by Mary Harriet

Madden and Brian Dilleen, wife

and brother of EZ Living Furniture

retailer Liam Dilleen.

In the Development Plan, the

land was zoned for residential

development for two dwellings.

The Ministerial Draft Directive

reversed this decision, dezoning

the land following the advice of the

OPR that the lands were isolated

and located in an environmentally

sensitive area.

construction of a house on the site.

The planning appeals body

refused permission on

environmental grounds, twice

ruling that the proposed

NEWS

30 October 2023 October 2023 PB

at a Council meeting in November

2022. Sunmile was seeking

rezoning of lands to low-density

residential in Rosshill.

All 18 councillors, as well as CEO,

Brendan McGrath, and the four

other Director of Services at the

Council were lobbied by Dilleen.

No lobbying returns have been

made since that time, despite the

three Councillors submitting

almost identical letters following

the Draft Ministerial Direction

issued in January 2023. Indeed

were it not that the representations

were made as part of a statutory

consultation process, the

Councillors should have

themselves registered as lobbyists

for the developers whose interests

they so comprehensively and word-

perfectly went on the record to

promote. The Guidelines are

particularly stringent in the case of

lobbying in relation to development

and zoning of land.

Another letter submitted by MKO

on behalf of Proofridge Limited

also appears to have been copied

by two Councillors: Declan

McDonnell and Noel Larkin.

In the past Larkin has called on

the Traveller community to

“apologise to the settled

development would be “prejudicial

to public health” and further ruling

that it would adversely a ect the

site’s conservation protections.

Last year, the High Court also

rejected an application for a judicial

review brought by Madden of An

Bord Pleanála’s refusal. Madden

argued unsuccessfully that An Bord

Pleanála had “failed to have regard

to all relevant documentation” and

had also “made a legal error” in

carrying out assessments of the

impact on the important ecological

site.

Martin Fahy, a notice party on the

case having appealed to An Bord

Pleanála, said “the Roscam

Peninsula is one of the last

remaining contiguous coastal

nature corridors left on the eastern

side of the city and is surrounded

on three sides by two European

protected sites”.

Fahy, along with his wife Sophie,

are directors of Save Roscam

Peninsula Limited by Guarantee, a

company dedicated to protecting

the Roscam Peninsula from

unwarranted development.

Liam Dilleen previously lobbied

the Council on behalf of Sunmile

Limited in Summer 2022, before

the Development Plan was adopted

The lnd owned by Sunmile Limied which

is he subjec of he Councillors’ leers

community for branding them all as

racists”. In 2018 he told the

Connaught Tribune that immigrants

are engaging in “blatant misuse”

of Ireland’s social welfare system.

While Larkin’s letter only

contains one verbatim sentence

from Proofridge’s letter, it does

also contain many parts of

McDonnell’s submission. Both also

include a misspelling of ‘Rosshill’

in the ﬁ rst sentence.

Proofridge Limited is owned by

Olivia Lavelle – sister of former Fine

Gael TD, Brian Walsh – and her

husband, Damien. As reported

previously by Mark Tighe in the

Irish Independent, Walsh lobbied

11 Galway City Councillors,

including McDonnell and Larkin, on

behalf of Proofridge Limited during

the same period as Dilleen.

The lobbying sought to increase

the density of dwellings permitted

on Low Density Residential lands

owned by Proofridge. Walsh’s

brother, John, a former Galway City

councillor, also made a similar

return, lobbying McDonnell and

Larkin, along with three others.

The Development Plan put

forward by the Council increased

the density of these lands from an

initial ﬁ ve dwellings, to twelve.

However, following the Draft

Ministerial Direction, these lands

have been dezoned.

Similarly to Dilleen, no lobbying

returns were made by either Brian

or John Walsh in the period

between the Development Plan’s

adoption and the submissions to

the Draft Ministerial Direction.

And once again, the two

submissions made by the

Councillors appeared on the

Council website within minutes of

Proofridge’s letter appearing

online.

The three Councillors,

McDonnell, McNelis and Larkin,

did not respond to a request for

comment. Attempts to reach the

owners of Sunmile and Proofridge

for comment were also

unsuccessful.

Following the period of public

consultation, the Minister of State

for Local Government and Planning,

Kieran O’Donnell TD, issued a

finalised Ministerial Direction.

Galway City Council are obliged by

the Planning and Development Act

2000 to include the changes in the

Direction in their Development

Plan.

The changes made to the zoning

of the lands owned by Sunmile

Limited and Proofridge Limited

remain in place.

McDonnell nd Lrkin coninue o inspire ech

oher, even spelling ‘Rosshill’ incorrecly

Were it not that the representations

were made as part of a statutory

consultation process, the

Councillors should have themselves

registered as lobbyists for the

developers whose interests they so

comprehensively and word-perfectly

went on the record to promote