Situated on Mount Seskin Road and close to Brittas and the Co Wicklow<\/a> border, Chianti Park was built in the late 1960s and acted as a trailer park site alongside an adjoining site, Hillsbrook. Around 10 residents are understood to be continuing to live at the back of both sites in mobile homes, chalets and trailers. <\/p>\n South Dublin County Council<\/a> and local resident John O\u2019Neill brought applications in the Circuit Civil Court last year, claiming the development was unauthorised and that all units should be removed and the site restored.<\/p>\n Their applications were opposed by the developer, Branach Developments Limited, and the site owners, Mullnassa Limited and Threshford Limited. The court found in favour of the council and O\u2019Neill, but the developer and site owners appealed this ruling to the High Court.<\/p>\n In court submissions, the developer and site owners argued it was an exempted development under the Planning and Development Act. <\/p>\n Michael O\u2019Donnell, for the respondents, said the development fell within the exemption as it was consistent with the character and nature of the structures that were already on the site.<\/p>\n The established use of the previous structures was residential use and the disputed works have not altered that use, he said.<\/p>\n If the works were not consistent with the character of the existing development then that was \u201ca genuine mistake\u201d. It would be disproportionate to order their removal, he said.<\/p>\n The High Court\u2019s ruling, published in June, showed two photographs: one showing a mobile home on the site, when it was previously used for mobile homes and chalets, and the second showing \u201ca completely different structure, a dwelling house\u201d.<\/p>\n Any reasonable person \u201cwould plainly see that they are different structures\u201d, but the developer and owners adopted a \u201cnonsensical\u201d approach in arguing they were in essence the same structure and representing the 29 dwelling houses as \u201cmaintenance\/improvement\/alteration\u201d of the mobile homes, the judge said.<\/p>\n On top of the \u201cnonsensical\u201d approach adopted, Humphreys said matters were not improved by the fact the unauthorised works occurred in a \u201chighly sensitive setting\u201d, zoned \u201chigh-amenity Dublin mountains\u201d in the South Dublin County Development Plan 2022-2028.<\/p>\n Nor was the situation made better by the \u201calmost unbelievable chutzpah\u201d of the developers who even now claimed \u201cinnocent mistake\u201d even though they ignored or deflected warning letters and had intensified construction of the unauthorised development \u201cin the teeth of interventions\u201d from the council and residents and during the Circuit Court proceedings, he said.<\/p>\n Developer Paddy Byrne, of Branach Developments, told The Irish Times his company was \u201csolely a contractor\u201d and had no involvement in the \u201cownership, legal status, proposed demolition or any related decisions concerning Chianti Park\u201d.<\/p>\n Byrne said he was aware of Humphrey\u2019s judgment, but unaware of what the site owners intended to do. <\/p>\n Branach Developments wrote to South Dublin county councillors last October, stating the site had suffered \u201cserious and deliberate attacks\u201d including four partly constructed homes subjected to attempted arson. <\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/O3ZR2EBEDZARRBCWJLEUZJNRPE.JPG\")
The developers and site owners told the High Court the development was exempted under planning law, but their argument was rejected. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw <\/p>\n