Courts

Restoration of protected Meath building could affect bats, says litigant

Dublin-based architect Paul Leech is challenging plans to restore the former St Patrick’s Classical School in Navan

The old St Patrick’s Classical School and former St Finian’s Diocesan Seminary in Navan, Co Meath, known as the Power’s Duck Egg. Photograph: Barry Cronin

Aodhan O'Faolain
Fri Oct 21 2022 - 13:22

A High Court challenge has been launched over plans to renovate and restore a protected building that had previously been used as a secondary school.

The case centres around Meath County Council’s plans to restore the derelict, but architecturally-significant former St Patrick’s Classical School in Navan.

The action has been taken by engineer and architect Paul Leech, from Kilmainham, in Dublin 8.

It has been brought on grounds including that the council allegedly failed to conduct a second survey during the summer months to properly assess the suitability of the site as a roost for bats, which are a protected species.

READ MORE

That failure, Mr Leech claims, meant the council lacked the information it requires under the EU Habitats Directive to reach a conclusion that would allow the proposed works to proceed.

It is also claimed that, due to the alleged lack of information before it, the council erred in law in its assessment that the proposed development is not likely to have a significant impact on any nearby environmentally sensitive sites.

In the past, the 19th-century building operated as St Finian’s Seminary Study Hall, which relocated to Mullingar.

In the 1930s, the building housed St Patrick’s Classical School for boys, before the school relocated to a campus on the outskirts of the town in the 1970′s.

The school’s famous past pupils and teachers include Tommy Tiernan, Dylan Moran, Hector Ó hEochagáin, and GAA star and former RTÉ pundit Colm O’Rourke,

In his judicial review proceedings, Mr Leech, who is also a past pupil of St Patrick’s, claims that a bat survey had been conducted by an expert in February 2022.

The expert recommended that a further survey be carried out during the bat roosting season between May and August.

Mr Leech claims the council did not carry out a follow-up report, which he says was required under the Habitats Directive.

The council, he said, did not have the required information concerning bats that would allow it to reach a conclusion that the proposed works comply with the Habitats Directive.

He also claims that when arriving at its decision the council also failed to have regard that the proposed development on two nearby special areas of conservation.

Represented by Evan O’Donnell Bl, instructed by solicitor Gabriel Toolan, Mr Leech seeks various orders and declarations, including an order quashing the council’s decision to grant development consent for various works at the building at Dillonsland.

He also seeks a declaration that the council erred in law in its assessment of the proposed development for the purpose of complying with the EU Habitats Directive.

The matter came before Mr Justice Charles Meenan who adjourned the case to a date in December.

LATEST STORIES