A Clare garda serving a nine-year suspension from the force faces being rendered homeless after being refused planning permission to build a house in east Clare because he is considered to be "non-local" to the area.
Over the past 13 years, Garda Ciarán Sheehan has lived at Scarriff Garda station in east Clare paying rent to the Minister for Justice. Arising from a 1998 Garda Complaints Tribunal decision in relation to an incident in 1995, he was required to resign.
Garda Sheehan challenged that decision and remains suspended. Last November he failed in a High Court judicial review to have that decision overturned and has now appealed to the Supreme Court.
However, if he is unsuccessful and is required to leave the force, he will also be forced to vacate Scarriff Garda station.
Last year, Clare County Council turned down his application for a house at Ogonnelloe in east Clare. In his appeal to An Bord Pleanála, Garda Sheehan's agent said: "Mr Sheehan will be due to retire from the Garda shortly and will be then homeless".
However, the appeals board refused planning permission due to the "locals only" rule, stating that the proposed house would set an unwelcome precedent for similar development in an area identified as being under pressure from urban generated housing.
Yesterday, Garda Sheehan expressed his anger at the decision. "It is very sad that someone who has lived in the county for the past 14 years is not considered a local.
"I am very disappointed that I could have nowhere to live in spite of owning 12 acres of land at Ogonnelloe and every Tom, Dick and Harry is getting planning around you.
"If I have no job tomorrow, I will have no house to live in as the job is attached to the house. I don't know what I'll do. Go on the housing list, live in a tent or a caravan. I have done everything I can to get planning permission but I have been knocked back at every opportunity."
In the board inspector's report recommending refusal, the inspector concluded the house itself would not impact adversely upon the rural landscape, but stated that Garda Sheehan had not demonstrated a genuine housing requirement for local persons under rules laid down in the Clare County Development Plan.
