The High Court has ordered that 29 modular homes built without planning permission near Brittas in Co Dublin be removed within a 13-week period and directed the owners and developer of the site to lodge a €150,000 bond pending the remediation.Judge Richard Humphreys earlier this month held that the houses at the site must be removed, and the “highly sensitive site” remediated. He had directed a detailed remediation plan be provided.In a separate judgment, the judge set out the details of the remediation plan, including a 13-week timeline for the removal of the housing units. Branach Developments Ltd, the developer, with a registered address at Thomastown, Caragh, Co Kildare, and the site owners, Mullnassa Limited and Threshford Limited with registered addresses at Rock Road, Blackrock, Dublin, had previously sought to remove one housing unit per week over a 29-week period. The judge also ruled that the developer must lodge a €150,000 bond with South Dublin County Council, pending the remediation of the site. The judge said the financial hardship arising from bond provision – which had been resisted by the defendants – is “on them”. “While there is a modest degree of financial inconvenience for the respondents, they could have avoided serious financial implications by stopping work when they got the warning letter from the council, when they got warning letters ... when they got the enforcement order, when proceedings were issued, when an injunction was sought,” the judge said. “But no – they just stood on the accelerator through those flashing red lights, in the hope of creating a fait accompli before they were brought to a halt,” he added.The judge noted that there was no evidence before the court relating to the potential cost of the remediation works. However, he said it was common knowledge that €150,000 “would only cover a fraction of the works that are going to be required”.He said the bond will provide “some assurance that the remediation will actually be carried out and will put to the test the [owner and developer’s] stated willingness to carry out the remediation”.The court will address next month the defendant’s application for a stay on orders, in light of a potential application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court, the judge noted.