Sinn Féin TD Cronin claims planning issue around €1m house was settled in court
Sinn Féin TD Reada Cronin and her husband built a €1m home without full planning permission, and then sought help from a sitting minister to be allowed keep it.
Despite not having valid planning permission, the couple continued building the house in 2002, although Kildare County Council had initiated enforcement proceedings against them. Indeed, Ms Cronin and her husband, Donal Quinn, wanted to add further unauthorised outbuildings, such as a block of stables.
As reported by the Irish Mail on Sunday, then finance minister Charlie McCreevy backed the retention application after they failed to meet a planning condition relating to the site.
One of the conditions was that only the seller of the site, or members of their immediate family, reside there for at least five years.
Planning rules meant that anyone occupying the new home had to be members of farming families primarily involved in agriculture, who were building on their own land and whose primary employment was local.
Amid complaints from locals and An Taisce, the application was refused on the grounds that the Quinns had no permission to build or live on the site. The council also issued an enforcement notice against the Quinns, who continued to build regardless.
In a letter to the council, An Taisce’s Ian Lumley wrote: ‘The house under construction on the site has no planning permission basis, since a previous permission granted on the site carried an occupier restriction.
“We are concerned that, notwithstanding the issue of an enforcement notice by Kildare County Council, construction of this house is proceeding without planning permission.”
Attempts to contact Ms Cronin were unsuccessful.
However, she did issue a statement to the Irish Mail on Sunday, saying: “In relation to my former home, there was an issue in respect of planning and this matter was settled in court, with the consent of Kildare County Council. This dates back almost two decades and is a matter of public record.
“As a public representative, I will always answer for matters relevant to my role, but matters relating to my family and my personal life are not relevant to my role as a TD. I would have thought that recent discourse surrounding personal issues would have made the media more cognisant of its role in this regard.”
Mr Quinn insisted his former home had not been built illegally.
“It wasn’t illegal,” he said. “There was planning in place.”
