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A TRUST LINKED to one of Ireland’s richest men, billionaire financier Dermot Desmond, has secured planning permission to construct a palatial mansion on Shrewsbury Road in south Dublin.
In getting the go-ahead for the ambitious mansion plan, Desmond has also been given the green light to demolish the existing house at Walford – the most expensive house ever sold in the state, which traded hands for €58 million in 2005.
Previous attempts to knock down Walford – built in 1902 – have failed with the planners, but the all-clear has been given to Desmond’s Isle of Man-registered Celtic Trustees Limited, which lists his children as the beneficiaries.
The Desmond-linked company paid €14.25 million for Walford in December 2016. Desmond later sued over the alleged leaking of confidential information about his purchase of the house from a firm connected to bankrupt developer Sean Dunne.
Its approved plan for the house – three-times larger than the house to be demolished – includes four large en-suite bedrooms all with walk-in wardrobes. The three bedrooms to the rear will have balconies that overlook the garden.
The size of the sprawling Walford site, at 1.77 acres, is the property’s most valuable feature. There is an open field to the rear of the run-down house.
Desmond, the largest shareholder in Celtic FC and part-owner of Independent News and Media, has recruited three-time Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winner Marcus Barnett to oversee the creation the private garden.
The planning application also comprises of a basement that includes a subterranean swimming pool, gym, cellar, games room and staff bedroom, which looks out onto a sunken courtyard.
Planning documents said: “In the interests of transparency, we can confirm that the dwelling is intended for use as the private dwelling of Dermot Desmond.”
The planning application contains a series of internal photos of the “trophy property” at Walford showing the extent to which the house has fallen into disrepair over the years.
The city council planning report into the case recommended that planning be granted after its planner visited the site and said that she agreed with the applicant that the existing house “does not have significant features which would require its retention”.
On the replacement house, the planner stated:
While the scale of the new property is significantly larger, it is designed so that it is suitable to its setting. The site will be vastly improved with the proposed landscaping scheme and with the re-development of the site.
The planning report added that “the demolition of the current property in this specific instance is considered to be acceptable”.
There were no objections lodged against the plan. The only third-party submission was a letter of support from neighbour, Moya Coulson, wife of financier Paul Coulson who also features prominently on Irish ‘rich lists’.
In her submission, Coulson offered her support to the plan and told planners that Walford “has remained unoccupied and in a state of near dereliction for almost 15 years presenting a very poor image to the road”.
Coulson said that the current house “is a building of dubious quality and certainly is not any architectural merit” and the Desmond plan as the new house “will be an enhancement to Shrewsbury Road”.
The go-ahead for the demolition of Walford and the development of the mansion marks the end of a 13-year long saga, which began in July 2005 when Walford was sold for €58 million to a mystery buyer.
The identity of the purchaser remained shrouded in secrecy but it was reported to be Dunne. It was later claimed by his wife and former newspaper columnist Gayle Killilea that ownership of the house had been transferred to her in 2005.
The property was later transferred to a Cypriot company, Yesreb Holdings, before being sold to the Desmond trust in December 2016.
Written by Gordon Deegan and posted on Fora.ie
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The media has a a vitally important democratic function to perform in making Trump and his current administration fully visible.
Media exposure will highlight what Trump is about.
@Johnny Leddin: only Trump worries about thumbs. It is his downfall.
@Tony Daly: like they did with clinton…right…
Exactly like Clinton. He was hounded by the media after his affair in office.
The media should be treated with contempt!
What do reporters think the new administration is playing at?…to me it seems like some sort of Bond plot where the obvious is a diversion to what is really going on…there are bigger things cooking in the background which they don’t want us to know about.
@winston smith: the focus is on Trump’s temperament at the moment and the increasing realisation that Trump is temperamentally unsuitable to be President of the US.
@Tony Daly: is that a fact or just your anti trump opinion….
Trump won because of a fawning uncritical ratings-driven media which gave him billions in free publicity.
@Were Jammin: he won because hillary took her eye of the ball and wouldn’t listen to the fears many people have in the US regarding immigration..she just called them all deplorables. That is a fact
@Were Jammin: he won because hillary took her eye of the ball and wouldn’t listen to the fears many people have in the US regarding immigration..she just called them all deplorables. That is a fact
@Were Jammin: Trump won because the media were uncritical of him – are you on drugs?
The media is ‘temperamentally unsuitable’ to cover the White House.
What’s most fascinating about this article is the constant use of “said one reporter” for even the most mundane observation. Did The Journal not get their names, or did the reporters insist on strict anonymity for reasons beyond my ken; or, more troublingly, does The Journal imagine itself a Player in DC political media who needs to keep their “sources” secret lest Trump’s team read this article?
The Media is frantically trying to do an about-face. From the time “President” nominated, they fawned over him because he gave them lots of meat and potatoes, encouraged by Murdoch, Kochs etc… Then, against all the pundits and odds, he became POTUS. 60+ days in, and the media are looking at themselves in horror, that they facilitated this Con Man get the Oval Office. Now, they’re falling over themselves to get him and his misbegotten, incompetent hangers-on out. There is enough blame to go around, so the media have now to start doing things right.
Surprised the Journal was allowed in.
You cannot hope to bribe or twist – thank God! – the average journalist…
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