‘Hidden homeless’ mum refused planning permission twice

A ‘homeless’ single mother has twice been refused planning permission to build a house on her father’s land in East Galway.

Regina Martyn and her two sons have been on the housing waiting list for six years. They have been told they will likely wait a further six years due to the lack of social and affordable housing in the county.

The Penney’s worker and her boys, David and Matthew, aged ten and 14, were forced to leave their rented home in Loughrea after the rent was increased from €800 to €1,000.

Categorised as ‘hidden homeless’ by housing charities, the family has had to return to live with her parents in Gurtymadden, where her father Frank is a farmer. But the family house is far too cramped for all of them.

He decided to gift her a site so she could build her own house on the farm holding. Last March planning permission was refused by Galway County Council after an objection was lodged by Transportation Infrastructure Ireland (TII) because the site fronted onto the N65, a national secondary road between Loughrea and Portumna.

She resubmitted her application, arguing that planning had been granted on the road for other applicants in exceptional circumstances.

“My daughter is surely an exceptional case – she has a clear housing need, she helps me a lot on the family farm, her boys go to the local school here in Kilcooly,” her dad exclaimed.

“The site is anything but dangerous – she has excellent sight lines: a half a mile view on the Loughrea side and 260m on the other side.

“I have no other land with road frontage. Regina is a genuine case and it’s just outrageous that they keep refusing her. She wants to come off the housing waiting list and build her own home. Why do the TII keep poking their noses into it above in Dublin?”

Regina plans to apply for planning permission for the third time in the next few weeks, hoping that the Council will listen to her pleas.

If she does not succeed, her father says she may have to break the law and put a mobile home on the site.

“There are plenty of blow-ins who have built on this road already and they have sites on side roads. I don’t.

“She’s already spent €6,000 to date on this process and has nothing after it. It’s a pure disgrace when this girl genuinely wants to sort her own housing problems.”