Kilkenny hotel set to appeal order to demolish entrance

A luxury hotel in Kilkenny due to be opened officially by the Taoiseach later this month will appeal a District Court order to demolish its roadside entrance which contravenes planning permission.

Saying "this is Kilkenny not Dallas" Judge William Harnett last week fined the Lyrath Estate Hotel, on the busy N10 Dublin road, €1,000 for constructing a roadside entrance and erecting flagpoles without planning permission. He imposed a deadline of July 1st for the offending works to be removed.

Hotel owner Xavier McAuliffe, who also owns the Spectra Photo business as well as three hotels and an apartment complex in South Africa, said yesterday: "[ My] architect in South Africa had applied for planning permission but gone ahead and built the entrance before it came through."

Mr McAuliffe said he "knew nothing about it" until he "got the summons" and is "very irate" with his architect. He said: "I am not a cowboy builder."

He would like to resolve the matter before the Taoiseach's visit on June 23rd. "If I knock it down, I'll have a €50 million hotel with no entrance," he added.

Mr McAuliffe said his South Africa-based architect had hired a Kilkenny firm of architects, Bluett & O'Donoghue, to supervise the project. They were not available to comment.

Philip O'Neill, director of services with Kilkenny County Council, which took the legal action, said the hotel had removed two other structures - a flashing neon sign and an advertising hoarding - also erected without permission. But two unauthorised wing-wall advertising structures, four uplighters and six flagpoles at the hotel's entrance remain in place. The judge awarded costs in the case to the county council.

Owen O'Mahony, a Kilkenny solicitor representing Mr McAuliffe, said his client would appeal to the Circuit Court to overturn the demolition order.

The 137-room Lyrath Estate Hotel and spa, which opened earlier this year, incorporates a 17th century house on 70 hectares of parkland.

Although awaiting an official classification, it was built to "5-star" specifications and aims to become the city's first hotel in that category. The hotel is attached to a purpose-built convention centre capable of seating 1,500 people which has already become a popular venue for business meetings, conferences and weddings. Mr McAuliffe also owns the Kilkenny River Court Hotel, opposite the landmark Kilkenny Castle.