*Clare TD, Cathal Crowe (FF). Photograph: Natasha Barton.
A CLARE TD used his Irish surname when applying for planning permission to build a property in South Clare while letting another application for the same site lapse.
Cathal Crowe TD (FF) has rejected details published by the online platform The Ditch this week that he is already the owner of two properties in the county.
The Ditch reported that the former primary school teacher used the name C. MacConcradha to apply for permission to build a four-bedroom house in Heathmount last year. He received the green light for the property in September. The decision was appealed by a third party and a ruling is expected from An Bord Pleanála in the coming weeks.
Crowe did not respond to a further information request from Clare County Council to plans for the construction of a family home and his plans were deemed to have been withdrawn in January. However, this application though very similar had one difference, they were lodged by his wife Maeve Fehilly and Cathal.
Deputy Crowe declined to comment when contacted by The Clare Echo over the questions raised in the reports over the past week.
Speaking at an event in Shannon, he told Nuacht RTÉ that he does not own two homes. “I have one house and I have a farm in Cnoc an Chraobhaigh in south Co Clare”. He added, “I have a farm there with livestock on it and I’m applying for planning to build a house there. I have no other home. My uncle has a house, however that house carries an exclusive residency clause. I have no key to that house. Under planning regulations people in rural areas may build on a farm and that’s what I’m trying to do. I have nothing further to say”.
Meelick native Crowe defended his use of the surname Mac Concradha in the application dated 12 July 2022, saying he is fully entitled to do so “as an Irish speaker, a frequent contributor to interviews in Irish, as a recently joined up member of Conradh na Gaeilge” and Article 8 of the Constitution”.
Chair of the Clare branch of the Community Action Tenants Union (CATU), Tim Hannon called on Deputy Crowe to recuse himself from voting on any national housing policy or legislation, given the questions that have been raised about his ethical conduct.
