Meath County Council spent more than €680,000 pursuing a long-running planning enforcement case over a five-bedroom home that was built without permission and demolished in March.The local authority ran up €642,696 in legal fees in relation to the 20-year unauthorised development saga involving the house at Faughan Hill, Bohermeen, some 7km west of Navan.The 588sqm house was built in 2006 without planning permission after the council refused Michael Murray, also known as Chris Murray, and his wife Rose permission in June 2006 for a house half that size. The couple mounted five unsuccessful retention bids and three failed appeals to keep the home intact.A total of €408,702 of the council’s costs were recorded this year as it took possession of the property and demolition works were carried out, records show.The ruins of the Murrays' house in Bohermeen, Co Meath, in March. Photograph: Alan Betson
A table of costs, released under the Freedom of Information Act, indicates the first bills began to arise in 2007, when enforcement action began.The costs were minimal in the first three years before rising to about €17,500 in 2010. A further €47,000 was spent over the following three years, all of it on legal bills.Between 2014 and 2017, as the case rumbled on, costs amounted to just €7,000. In 2018, the legal bills suddenly increased to more than €81,000 before a lull in enforcement-related spending over the next few years.In 2022, the council said related costs were about €28,000 – about €22,000 of which was recorded as being for legal costs, with the remainder classified as “miscellaneous” spending.Between 2023 and last year, its legal bills came to nearly €79,000, with a further €1,230 spent on direct planning enforcement.This year, costs on the case increased sharply as the council finally demolished the illegally constructed house. The local authority’s legal bills reached almost €375,000, according to a log of spending. A further €33,394 was spent on security during the demolition, with tensions having risen over the planned razing of the home.The council’s overall bill across the 20-year process came to €683,409, the records show.Asked about the figures, a spokesman for the council said they reflected costs incurred over “a prolonged period” in relation to the case. “The matter has been before the courts on multiple occasions over a number of years, including proceedings in the High Court and on appeal to the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, where the enforcement position of the council was upheld,” he said.“The majority of costs incurred relate to legal proceedings associated with this process.”Asked whether it had any additional comment on the costs involved, the spokesman said: “As this remains an ongoing legal matter, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”Last week, the Murrays were back in the High Court as the council applied for the costs of the demolition, plus its legal costs. An application by the Murrays for various orders aimed at setting aside a High Court finding last March of contempt is to be heard next month.
