Fresh planning row erupts over Limerick mural tribute on gable end wall

A FRESH planning row has erupted over a mural on a house in Limerick with two women now facing the prospect of removing the artwork which was completed to honour a deceased friend.

As revealed by the Limerick Leader, Aoife Kiely and Darlene O’Carroll enlisted an artist to paint a mural of the late Patrick Foley on the gable wall of the home they live at in Nicker near Pallasgreen.

They said the cottage was “devised” to them by Mr Foley in his will.

The artwork features Patrick Foley with his dog and an inscription, 'ar gcara maith’ which translates from Irish to English as ‘our good friend’.

But in July 2022 they were forced to seek permission from council to keep the mural after local planners said they had been alerted to what it described as an “unauthorised development”.

Three relatives of Mr Foley, his brother Donal Foley, his niece Elaine Holmes and his sister Mary Holmes had all expressed opposition to the mural in letters to the local authority.

All three say the home remains only rented.

Elaine Holmes claimed the mural had created “deep emotional stress” and is “extremely insensitive to the late Patrick Foley, his family, friends and neighbours.”

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Council then rejected the application to keep the mural, prompting Ms Kiely and Ms O'Carroll to seek the intervention of An Bord Pleanala.

Despite a recommendation from an inspector at the national appeals body that the mural should stay, the board itself overruled this, and has refused permission for its retention.

It’s left the pair now facing the prospect of having to remove the artwork which they had commissioned last year.

Now, in a further development, Mary Holmes and Donal Foley have put forward a fresh objection to a separate planning application sought by the occupants of the cottage in Nicker.

Ms Kiely and Ms O’Carroll sought planning permission from council for the construction of a new vehicular access to the side of the home in the village to allow for off-street parking.

“We are objecting to this request by Aoife Kiely and Darlene O’Carroll as they are not registered owners. His (Mr Foley’s) estate is currently in probate. They are currently renting the property,” the relatives of the late Mr Foley wrote in a letter to local planners.

Solicitors acting for Ms Kiely and Ms O’Carroll responded in a letter to council.

It stated that Patrick Foley, currently the registered owner of the home at Nicker “devised and bequeathed” the property to the pair, “as tenants in common with equal shares.”

The solicitors added a grant of probate - a legal process in which a will is proven in court - was issued in January this year.

“Darlene O’Carroll and Aoife Kiely are the persons entitled to become the registered owners of the property which they inherited from the late Patrick Foley,” the letter concluded.

A decision is due on the new vehicular access at the property by December 14.