The owner of an illegally-built house that has been the subject of almost 20 years of legal proceedings says he expects demolition of his former home to begin on Thursday morning.
Chris and Rose Murray built the 588sq m (6,220sq ft) house at Faughan Hill, Bohermeen, Navan, in 2006 despite being refused planning permission by Meath County Council.
The couple mounted five unsuccessful retention bids and three failed appeals to keep the home intact.
On Monday, Meath County Council took possession of the home. Chris Murray said his three children, aged between 19 and 24, were having their breakfast on Monday morning when security men arrived with gardaí.
He claimed his children were evicted on the spot and all their belongings remain in the house.
Crowds gathered on Wednesday night outside the house in anticipation that Meath County Council, through a private contractor, will begin demolition works.
The house that is due to be demolished.
Photograph: Barry Cronin.
Steel containers were placed at the entrance to prevent machinery accessing the site, but Chris Murray said he expected the council to move them.
“We have had enough. We have no problem moving out of this house. We tried everything in our power to give this house to charity,” he said.
“The council are going to come in the morning and floor the house to the ground. I have a family of three and they are in bits.”
Meath County Council first took legal action against the couple in 2007. The Murrays’ attempts to save the house failed last November when the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
On Monday, on foot of previous legal proceedings, the local authority took control of the property.
Chris Murray admitted he and his wife had made a “massive mistake” in building without planning permission, but believed the punishment of having it knocked did not fit the crime.
Why Meath house was seized from owners in 20-year planning saga
On Monday, council officials told the High Court they were unable to locate the couple on foot of orders for their attachment over alleged breach of their undertakings to offer, by September 2022, vacant possession of their home.
Murray confirmed the couple had been avoiding the summons “because there is a warrant for my arrest at the moment because I didn’t knock the house. They are going to put my wife and me in jail.”
He said the family was staying in a bed and breakfast in Kells, Co Meath and was now homeless.