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<\/p>\nThe Ronans have lodged a new submission with An Coimis\u00fain Plean\u00e1la rebutting the claims made in four separate appeals by local residents<\/p>\n
16:00, 15 Mar 2026Updated 16:04, 15 Mar 2026<\/p>\n
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Mairead Ronan<\/p>\n
Broadcaster and podcaster, Mairead Ronan<\/a>, and her husband Louis have hit back at objectors\u2019 claims over their plans to revamp and extend their Dermot Bannon<\/a> Architects-inspired family home at a Co Waterford<\/a> tourism hotspot.<\/p>\n This follows the Ronans lodging a new submission with An Coimis\u00fain Plean\u00e1la<\/a> rebutting the claims made in four separate appeals by local residents that have stalled their house upgrade plan at Dunmore East.<\/p>\n In January, Waterford City and County Council granted planning permission to the Ronans for the house revamp and extension designed by Dermot Bannon Architects.<\/p>\n However, a question mark has been put over their plans with the four third party appeals lodged to An Coimi\u00fasin Plean\u00e1la.<\/p>\n Previously ACP refused the Ronans’ planning application for a house revamp and extension in November 2023 after locals objected in the local running planning saga.<\/p>\n Mairead Ronan is currently a contributor on Ray D’Arcy’s new podcast the Ray D’Arcy Daily.<\/p>\n Mairead Ronan and her husband Louis(Image: Instagram\/cocomairead)<\/p>\n The current Ronan plan lodged in December 2024 included a 165 sq metre extension compared to the 60 sq metre home currently in place where 46 sq metre of the existing home all be retained.<\/p>\n Now in response to the claims made by the locals in their appeals, the Ronans\u2019 planning consultant has lodged a 25 page submission with ACP on their behalf disputing the claims made by the objectors.<\/p>\n In the submission, planning consultant, David Mulcahy notes that one of the appellants’ claims that the home\u2019s balcony is an \u201celevated entertainment terrace\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr Mulcahy said that \u201cour client takes issue with the description of the proposed balcony as an \u2018elevated entertainment terrace\u2019 giving the impression that this will be used for social gatherings or parties. The balcony will be used by the family for relaxing and nothing more\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr Mulcahy has told ACP that the size of the existing home at only 60sq metres \u201cis notably small and cannot facilitate the applicant\u2019s family of six persons\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr Mulcahy states that the current home \u201cis the equivalent of a one bedroom apartment\u201d.<\/p>\n The Ronans would have secured planning permission for the original proposal but for the intervention of neighbours who opposed the project and appealed the Council grant to An Bord Pleanala<\/p>\n He also points out the existing dwelling \u201cis located on a notably large site which is largely underutilised\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr Mulcahy said that the site was vacant for 25 years and remained this way due to the small size of the home \u201cwhich is not conducive to modern day living\u201d.<\/p>\n He says that a balanced approach has to be adopted in terms of marrying the need to provide sufficient floor area to accommodate a modern home and the conservation principles that guide development in this area.<\/p>\n Mr Mulcahy states that the \u201cthe architectural design achieves this\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr Mulcahy also bristles at the claim made by one of the appellants that the Ronan home is a holiday home.<\/p>\n He says that describing the home as a holiday home \u201cgives the impression to the Commission that it will be used on a temporary basis\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr Mulcahy states that \u201cour client wishes to highlight that they spend the majority of their time in Dunmore East and they expect this to increase if they obtain planning permission and build out the development\u201d.<\/p>\n He says that in relation to the concerns about noise and light nuisance by the appellants, Mr Mulcahy said that no evidence is provided to support this position.<\/p>\n Dermot Bannon<\/p>\n He said that the Ronans \u201care fully respectful of their neighbours and have no desire to impede on their residential amenity in terms of noise impacts or light nuisance\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr Mulcahy also rejects the appellants\u2019 claim that the Ronans\u2019 planned rooftop terrace will result in overlooking and a loss of privacy.<\/p>\n He has told ACP that the rooftop balcony or terrace \u201cwill be comfortably absorbed into the massing of the new roof and will not present as a dominant or incongruous feature\u201d,<\/p>\n Mr Mulcahy states that the Romans \u201chave made a concerted effort to change the design and reduce the scale\u201d when compared to the proposals refused planning permission in November 2023.<\/p>\n Mr Mulcahy said that the proposed development \u201crepresents exceptional architecture and will make a significant positive contribution to the area.<\/p>\n Mr Mulcahy said that the architects \u201chave produced a contemporary design which in itself is striking and aesthetically pleasing whilst at the same time being respectful of the scale of development in the area\u201d.<\/p>\n ACP has invited the appellants to make rebuttal submissions on the points made in the Ronan submission and a decision on the appeal is due later this year.<\/p>\n Join the Irish Mirror\u2019s breaking news service on WhatsApp. Click this link<\/a> to receive breaking news and the latest headlines direct to your phone. 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If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ronans have lodged a new submission with An Coimis\u00fain Plean\u00e1la rebutting the claims made in four separate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,60404,61,60,117240,158652],"class_list":["post-348158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-dermot-bannon","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mairead-ronan","tag-ray-darcy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1_mairead-ronan-husband-louisPNG.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Mairead](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1_Mairead-Ronan-at-the-launch-of-Irelands-first-Punch-Needle-Extravaganza-with-Joanne-Mooney-sponsor.jpeg\")
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