Protest is being planned in support of Tipperary man who faces losing log cabin home

A protest march to Tipperary County Council’s Civic Offices in Clonmel is being planned in support of a 65-year-old New Inn man facing homelessness due to a court order directing him to remove his log cabin home from the site he owns.

The protest is being organised in the wake of a public meeting in support of Sean Meehan from Woodinstown, New Inn that was attended by an estimated 250 people at New Inn Community Hall on Monday night.

The packed meeting heard that an online petition is also being collected in support of Mr Meehan and more than 3,000 people have so far signed their names to it.

A GoFundMe page has also been set up to assist Mr Meehan in his legal battle.

The Dáil was told by Independent TD Mattie McGrath in January that arising from a planning enforcement prosecution brought by Tipperary County Council, a court order was made in December directing Mr Meehan to remove his log cabin home or face four months imprisonment.

Deputy McGrath along with Sinn Féin TD Martin Browne, Tipperary Cllrs Máirín McGrath (Ind), David Dunne (SF), Annemarie Ryan (SF) and Andy Moloney (Ind) all attended and addressed the public meeting in support of Mr Meehan’s plight.

Cllr Frank Roche travelled from county Cork and spoke about his experience of living in a mobile home after losing his home and being unable to qualify for a mortgage due to his age.

Former Independent TD Seamus Healy, who plans to contest the next General Election, and Cashel-based Independent Local Elections candidate Liam Browne also spoke at the meeting in support of Mr Meehan.

In light of the current housing crisis, many of the political speakers echoed Deputy McGrath’s call for a moratorium on planning enforcement proceedings being taken against the occupiers of log cabins and mobile homes, who haven’t the required planning permission.

There were also calls for a change in legislation to relax the planning rules relating to this type of modular housing.

It was pointed out by some of the public representatives that Tipperary County Council didn’t go looking for cases of unauthorised log cabins or mobile homes to instigate enforcement proceedings against. However, the council was obliged to investigate when it received a complaint about such a dwelling.

Sean Meehan said he was overwhelmed by the turn out at the public meeting in support of his situation and thanked all who attended the meeting. He pointed out that some people travelled from as far as Wicklow, Galway and Cavan to attend the meeting as they or family members have found themselves in a similar situation.

Keith O’Brien, who organised the public meeting and set up the online petition, told The Nationalist there has been a huge response to online petition since it was set up last Thursday with 3,141 signatures collected by lunchtime on Tuesday this week.

Arising from the public meeting, he said they are now planning a protest march to Tipperary County Council’s offices in Clonmel and are looking into staging it before the St Patrick’s Bank Holiday Weekend.

Mr O’Brien said anyone who wished to sign the online petition in support of Sean Meehan or donate to the GoFundMe page can access both by logging onto the campaign’s Save Seans Cabin Facebook page.