U2′s Larry Mullen has had no luck with doing up his Howth seafront compound. The drummer and his wife, Ann Acheson, are suing several parties for alleged negligence over work at Claremont Lodge, his main residence in the northside fishing village, with the case due back in court for mention later this month. He is also now seeking permission to make a property he owns next door, Strand Lodge, “inhabitable”. The musician bought the house, on the beachfront to the immediate east of Claremont Lodge, in 2000 for £1 million (€1.27 million) but nobody has lived in it since.
In 2010 the couple got planning permission from Fingal County Council to turn it into two three-bedroom flats, one on the ground floor and one on the upper level. But in a fresh planning application lodged last week, the couple say that following the work, the flats were found not to be in compliance with building regulations. The property is now “vacant and uninhabitable”, with a series of “minor” alterations needed to meet building and fire safety standards, including altering the second floor of the building from living accommodation to attic space.
Unfortunately, Dermot Bannon is not involved. It would all have made for a great episode of Room to Improve.
Phil Hogan tries, tries again
One might imagine that a politician who was told their new job risked damaging the reputation of their former employer might have been a bit bashful around the place afterwards. Not Phil Hogan. After being told by the European Commission in 2021 that his work for a law firm could constitute a “breach” of ethical rules placed on recently departed former commissioners, the Fine Gaeler stepped down from the role.
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But as soon as he had served his cooling-off period, he was back in touch with the European Commission to ask whether there was a mechanism for him to get official briefings from commission staff, according to newly released documents. The Kilkenny man said regular briefings would help him “ensure that my public contributions take account of European Commission decisions”. Alas, he was told that there was no facility to brief former commissioners on EU business, “except for specific situations related to the previous mandate as commissioner”. Instead, the commission recommended Hogan sign up to their daily online news feed instead.
Storm clouds gather over Jack’s Hole beach resort
The sun was shining at Jack’s Hole beach resort in Brittas, Co Wicklow, last week but the mood may have been a little overcast. The group of investors who own the exclusive mobile home development, where a unit famously sold for close to its €495,000 asking price two years ago, has been refused permission to add an additional eight mobile homes to the 72-unit resort, as well as a five-a-side football pitch, two pickleball courts and a padel tennis court. Wicklow County Council ruled the expansion would “detrimentally impact” the sensitive area and would “seriously interfere” with a number of nearby protected structures, including a number of old coastguard cottages.
The council also noted that nine of the units on the site had no planning permission, saying this undermined the planning system. If that wasn’t all, the owners are now facing a number of legal actions from local property owners over the erection of a fence blocking access to the local beach. A High Court case was filed against the resort last week by Morgan Stanley’s Colm Donlon, who the Daily Telegraph once dubbed “the Harry Potter of mergers and acquisitions”. Donlon, who owns the two-time Cheltenham Coral Cup winner Langer Dan, is often referred to in the business pages as a “rainmaker”. Sounds like the last person with whom the owners of a beach resort would want to tangle.
Another big dose of reality coming to your TV soon
The introduction in the budget of a 20 per cent tax break on expenditure up to €15 million for unscripted television shows, including reality TV and what’s known in the industry as “shiny floor shows”, is largely down to diligent lobbying by Pat Kiely, the former managing director of TV3 and Virgin Media. The lobbying register shows Kiely has been chasing politicians about the potential benefits of the sector for the past three years, securing meetings with Leo Varadkar, Michael McGrath, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Damien English, Neale Richmond and several ministerial special advisers.
Kiely’s production company, BiggerStage, hired Ed Brophy, Paschal Donohoe’s former adviser, to push the case and commissioned research from PwC on the benefits of tax breaks for the sector. Unsurprisingly, Kiely’s outfit will be one of the big beneficiaries. Among the shows they have produced in recent years are Name that Tune for US network Fox, where the hosts and contestants moved to Ireland while the show was being filmed in Ashford Studios. Likewise Gordon Ramsay and his contestants decamped to Co Wicklow while competing for a $250,000 price on cooking show Next Level Chef. The rewards from the tax break for Kiely and co will be substantially greater.
Let no crumb go to waste
The lobbying register also informs us that Minister of State Ossian Smyth, who has responsibility for the circular economy, met a man during the summer whose name suits his job. The Green Party politician attended an event organised by Too Good to Go, a social enterprise company that has created an app allowing consumers to buy food at discounted prices from local shops and cafes that would otherwise go to waste. Appearing alongside Smyth at the event was the company’s co-founder, Jamie Crummie.
Budget-day horror show for cinema tycoon Paul Anderson
Almost everyone was a winner in last week’s giveaway budget. But cinema tycoon Paul Anderson may be a rare exception. Last month Anderson, who cofounded the Ward-Anderson group and now owns a chunk of the Omniplex cinema chain, put his adjoining properties on Shrewsbury Road and Ailesbury Road in the heart of Dublin 4 on the market together in one lot. For €20 million, a buyer will get the Edwardian Killead on Shrewsbury Road and the more modern The Grove, on Ailesbury Road. But with a stroke of a pen last week, Minister for Finance Jack Chambers added 6 per cent stamp duty on the portion of any sale above €1.5 million.
Before the budget, stamp duty of €390,000 would have been payable on Anderson’s €20 million asking price – now it’s €1.13 million.
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