Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
IRISH ACTRESS SAOIRSE Ronan has secured planning permission – at her second attempt – for “a long-term home for a young and growing family” near the village of Ballydehob in west Cork.
It follows Cork County Council granting planning permission to Ronan’s Slaney Productions UC to demolish her existing two-storey, 125 sq metre dwelling on site at Foilnamuck, Ballydehob, Co Cork and replace it with a “high quality” single-storey 320 sq metre farmhouse-style home.
The Oscar-nominated actress purchased the coastal property, which lies 3km from Ballydehob, for €650,000 in 2020.
In October 2024, the council refused planning permission to Ronan’s Slaney Productions UC to demolish the existing home and build a new home after planners concluded that the proposal would not fit appropriately into the rural coastal and high-value landscape and would seriously detract from the visual amenities of the area.
Slaney Productions UC did not appeal the decision to An Coimisiún Pleanala and instead, lodged revised house plans with the council in December.
A report by architects for Ronan, Clancy Moore Architects, lodged with the application, stated that its brief from its client was for “a dwelling designed in sympathy with the surrounding landscape which could act as a long-term home for a young and growing family”.
Ronan married her long-time partner Jack Lowden, who stars in Apple TV’s Slow Horses. The couple became parents last year with the birth of their first child.
Ahead of revised plans lodged in December for the 2.6 acre site, a council planner’s report records that architect for the home, Andrew Clancy at a pre-planning meeting with the council last August stated that “it was not intention for the new dwelling to be used as a second holiday home and stated that the applicant ‘has to live somewhere.’”
Advancing the case for the demolition of the existing home, which was only built in the 1990s, a Clancy Moore report states that the dwelling “is fundamentally unsuitable for continued use due to multiple critical deficiencies”.
The report states that the house fails to meet current building regulations regarding ventilation, fire safety, escape routes, and accessibility while floor-to-ceiling heights are insufficient for habitable spaces.
The council has granted planning permission after Ronan and her design team relocated the planned home to a lower site on the sloping field and moved it closer to the site of the existing home reducing its visual impact.
Attaching 15 conditions to the permission, the council concluded that the scheme “would not seriously injure the amenities of the area”.
Clancy Moore reduced the size of the home to 320 sq metres “to further minimise both the visual and environmental impact” of the revised proposal.
Clancy Moore stated that the house “is designed to blend harmoniously with the landscape, matching the height and form of surrounding buildings while retaining its own distinct character.”
In a 15-page planning report lodged with the application, planning consultants McCutcheon Halley stated that “the proposed house has been designed to meet our clients’ unique requirements and aspirations whilst keeping proportions limited to a traditional rural building”
The report states that the proposed living space at the home has been around a central courtyard “and the overall design approach is akin to a collection of rural buildings found in a traditional farmyard”.
The family living spaces consist of three bedrooms and an open space living area which extends to the covered terrace.
The home includes an office and library space, which the report states, facilitates separation of workspaces within the homes from family life.
The report states that the result “will be a dwelling that provides a modern living space in an unimposing structure”.
The McCutcheon Halley report states that the proposed development “will provide a high-quality, energy-efficient home on the site that will integrate into the surrounding landscape”.
The council planner’s report concluded that the justification for the demolition of the dwelling is accepted.
The planner’s report stated that the other fundamental change from the turned down proposal is that the proposed home “is no longer to be sited in the open sloping green field with a tiny exception of the proposed structure”.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say