Why has Damien English resigned as minister of State?
The Fine Gael junior minister admitted giving incorrect information to a local authority when making a planning application to build a house in a rural area of Meath in 2008 – when he already owned a home elsewhere.
He said he had informed the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar after he reviewed the application and it was clear that he “failed to inform Meath County Council” (MCC) about the ownership of a house in Castlemartin.
What is so wrong about providing incorrect information on a planning application?
People who wish to build houses in a rural area must prove the need for the housing, and their link to the location.
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The Rural Development section of the Meath County Development Plan 2007 to 2013 outlines the criteria for those who wish to secure planning permission for rural housing.
This includes those who have spent substantial periods of their lives living in rural areas for a period in excess of five years and “who do not possess a dwelling or who have not possessed a dwelling in the past, in which they have resided or who possess a dwelling in which they do not currently reside.”
Mr English already possessed a dwelling in the past, which he failed to declare.
Land Registry papers show that Mr English became the full owner of the property at Castlemartin, Co Meath in 2004.
Mr English and his wife Laura later successfully applied for planning permission to build a bungalow in the rural Cookstown area outside Kells in 2008.
Planning permission documents can be complicated, what did Mr English tell Meath County Council?
A MCC Planning Report from October 8th, 2008 on Mr English’s application specified that Damien English did not own a dwelling.
The document says the application site is a “strong rural area” under the definition in the County Development Plan and the applicant is required to establish compliance with the local housing need policy it sets out.
A “local need form” must be filled out as part of the application process for one-off housing in the countryside which asks about their background in the area and includes a question on whether or not the applicant or applicants own a property.
The MCC planning report says that according to the local needs form submitted with the application “the applicant currently resides in the family home at Castlemartin and has done so for the past 30 years.”
It notes that the home is around 3 miles from the application site and says “the applicant is employed as a Public Representative by Dáil Éireann in Dublin and also has a constituency office in Navan.”
It also says: “The applicant does not own a dwelling and has not owned a dwelling previously.”
The report also says: “The applicant has submitted documentation in the form of invoices, mobile phone bills, bank statements and insurance documents for the past 5 years which link him to the family home at Castlemartin.” It adds: “On the basis of the information submitted the applicant has strong linkages specific to the application site and as such satisfies the Local Housing Need criteria in relation to rural housing as per the Meath County Development Plan.”
What happens next?
The position of the minister of State at the Department of Enterprise will need to be filled.
The Taoiseach said he accepted the resignation as Mr English had “made a declaration to Meath County Council that was not correct”.
The discrepancy in the planning application was revealed by The Ditch website on Wednesday.
The case itself rises questions around the rules surrounding one off rural homes and how they are approved or refused.
