No Fences Please Tetrarch – We’re Neighbours!
Fencing As Proposed By Tetrarch For Deer Park
In a display of heightened concern for its property, Tetrarch’s latest move to erect 6ft barbed wire-topped fencing around the Howth Demesne is particularly unfortunate.
As readers will know, Tetrarch bought the estate in 2019 and has since lodged several planning applications for it. Most recently, the council granted planning permission for a €10 million redevelopment of Howth Castle to transform it into a retail, food and tourist destination but other applications have not been as successful and one now suspects a sense of frustration on the part of the developer
Just last week Michael McElligott, chief executive of Tetrarch, has written to the council and councillors outlining a litany of antisocial and illegal activity on the vast 191-hectare site, citing at least two incidents where gardaí had to be called.
In one incident it has been alleged that a woman member of staff was subjected to “abusive and intimidating language” from a group of five or six men who entered the estate at night and lit a large fire in a wooded area and were drinking alcohol.
“They refused her request to leave the estate,” claiming they had a right of way to access the estate through the boundary fencing,” the letter states.
In another recent incident, up to 75 cars were driven on the land with their drivers performing doughnut stunts. Again, the incident was reported to Gardaí.
These two events have got to be called out for what they are, as totally unacceptable. The local community decry such activity and would plead with the perpetrators to desist immediately from such reprehensible actions.
However, the erection of 6ft wire-topped fencing is unlikely to solve anything. Indeed, it would be more likely to heighten a sense of distrust among locals and would serve to erect an additional barrier in relations between Tetrarch and the community.
This proposal for 6ft bared wire-topped fence flies in the face of a long held “open-gate” tradition that has existed for hundreds of years and would only further isolate Tetrarch from a community that wants to see it and the Demesne of Deer Park prosper for the next chapter of its existence.
Michael, there is a better way!
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