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Irish Independent
30-07-2025
- General
- Irish Independent
Residents of mouldy, leaking, rat-infested Wicklow estate demand end to 19 years of issues
Council-owned homes have been described as 'glorified garages' that you wouldn't let a dog live in Wicklow People Residents of a Wicklow housing estate have shared details of the litany of issues they are continuously having to deal with, including damp, mould, leaks and rodent infestations, as they staged a protest on Monday afternoon calling for action. Hillview Estate in Wicklow town was the focus of an RTÉ Prime Time feature, aired last week, and the residents further highlighted their plight by holding a 20-strong protest outside Wicklow Town Hall, just before the monthly meeting of Wicklow Municipal District.
The Journal
16-07-2025
- Business
- The Journal
Huge local opposition to drone delivery hub on Dublin's southside as over 100 observations lodged
MORE THAN ONE hundred observations have been lodged over plans for a new food delivery hub for drones in Dublin, with the majority being objections. Politicians and residents' associations are amongst more than 110 objections received for the proposed hub in Dundrum on Dublin's southside. The window for objections closed this week. Plans were lodged by Irish startup Manna Drones Ltd for the lands at an existing car park site to the rear of Main Street and the rear of Holy Cross Church in Dundrum. Manna already operates two drone delivery hubs, one in Blanchardstown and one near junction 6 on the M50. The company has plans lined up to expand to Tallaght and Glasnevin. There have been over 100 complaints made to the company from those living in areas it already operates in. Manna CEO Bobby Healy has previously said the company is 'listening' to complaints and is investing in tech to make its drones, which are used to deliver products such as takeaway food, emit less noise when in use. Appearing before an Oireachtas Committee earlier this year, Healy said that drone deliveries are more sustainable, and remove traffic congestion from roads. 'Drone delivery offers a faster, greener and safer way forward, and does so while fully respecting the privacy of the communities we serve,' he said. Fianna Fáil TD Shay Brennan is among the objectors to the Dundrum hub. In his observation he noted that the idea of drones passing overhead daily has generated 'anxiety' in the locality. He also points out that there is currently no national policy or local planning framework to address the challenges posed by drone operations in urban and suburban settings. He called for a community impact assessment, robust noise studies, strict conditions on operational hours and flight frequency, and to defer approval until a 'community-centred' framework is in place. In Manna's application it proposes that the drones will be used to 'improve food delivery services in the Dundrum area'. One objector says that this is 'not a good use' of 'modern technology' and questions why only one use is listed. Another who also raised the same point noted: 'Dundrum already has ample food delivery services, making this proposal unnecessary and potentially harmful'. Advertisement One objector, who lives locally, wrote: 'A documentary I have viewed indicated a lot of local resentment to the current planning granted in Dublin 15.' 'The documentary I viewed talked about drones buzzing over adjacent properties, of which I am the occupant of one [in Dundrum],' they added, referencing the RTÉ Prime Time programme on the existing hub in Dublin 15. Another local resident wrote to Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to object on privacy grounds. 'The presence of drones flying over residential homes raises legitimate fears around surveillance and data protection. Even if these drones are not recording footage, their presence in the skies creates a feeling of being watched and compromises residents' sense of privacy,' they said. One observation noted that the noise from and presence of drones could 'adversely impact' those with existing mental health conditions. The objector claimed that hyperacusis – noise sensitivity – is common in those with PTSD, those who suffer migraines, and those with some forms of epilepsy. Green Party councillor Robert Jones, who sits on the local county council, submitted an observation which noted that in his view adequate 'environmental scrutiny' and 'public consultation' had not been carried out. He said that there had been no ecological or acoustic assessments 'despite likely impacts on birds, pets and human health', and urged the council to reject the application. A management company representing the residents of Dundrum Castle House wrote to the council to object to the development on the grounds that drone activity overhead poses an 'unacceptable risk of damage' to the ruins of a 13th century Norman castle on the grounds of the residential development. Manna submitted a planning report from Downey Chartered Town Planners which stated that it will be introducing a 'much-needed service at this location'. The report said that drone delivery offers a 'sustainable alternative' to traditional delivery methods. Manna is applying for permission for an aerial delivery hub in Dundrum town centre for a temporary period of 5 years. In its planning statement the company said the development will consist of a single storey storage and ancillary office cabin container, perimeter fencing, and 'all associated site works necessary to facilitate the development'. A spokesperson for Manna Air Delivery has previously said that it would not be flying drones in Dundrum 'in the next few months'. They added that Manna Air Delivery has begun rolling out quieter propellers that reduce cruise-flight noise to 59 dBA—noticeably quieter than typical traffic outside a home, which averages between 70 and 75 dBA. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
RTÉ News
11-06-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Why is my landlord offering me a licence and not a tenancy agreement?
Analysis: There are important distinctions in law between those who occupy a premises under a tenancy or under a licence The current housing crisis has generated a huge demand for rental properties. This demand, coupled with the high levels of regulation within the residential rental sector, create a risk that landlords might be tempted to avoid their statutory obligations by getting occupants to sign a carefully drafted (and potentially bogus) licence rather than a tenancy agreement. An important distinction is made by the law between those who occupy a premises under a tenancy or lease, and those who occupy a premises under a licence. Those who occupy under a tenancy of a 'dwelling' are subject to the protections afforded by the Residential Tenancies Act 2004. From RTÉ Radio 1's News at One, half of private rental properties failed to meet standards in 2024 The 2004 Act places limits on the extent to which the rent can be increased, particularly in rent pressure zones, where there is a rent cap of 2% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. Another key protection is that tenants who have been in possession for six months become entitled to a tenancy of unlimited duration (sometimes referred to as a 'Part 4 Tenancy'). This means that the landlord can only terminate the tenancy in certain circumstances: for example, if the tenant is in breach of their obligations, or if the landlord wishes to sell the property. Even where the landlord does have a legitimate reason to terminate the tenancy, the 2004 Act sets out lengthy notice periods. Traditionally, the statutory protections afforded to residential tenants were not available to occupiers under licence agreements. However, a decision was made in 2019 to extend certain protections available under the 2004 Act to students who occupy student accommodation under a licence agreement. With the exception of student licensees, occupiers under a licence are denied the protection of the 2004 Act and their relationship is governed by the licence agreement. Whether the agreement is a tenancy or a licence may have to be determined by a Residential Tenancy Tribunal. While these tribunals should be applying the law which has been developed by the courts on how to distinguish a lease from a licence, the difficulty is that the courts have had to deal with this problem in an entirely different commercial context. From RTÉ Prime Time, the rental timebomb as the middle aged renters of today become the old age pensioners of tomorrow The case law typically involves an occupant of a garage or a shop claiming that his licence is in fact a lease so that he is entitled to a new business lease (under the Landlord and Tenant Amendment Act 1980) on the expiry of the current arrangement. Often the agreement will specify that there is 'no intention to create the relationship of landlord and tenant' and that 'the owner retains possession'. If the occupier does not have exclusive possession of the premises, this will lead to a finding that the agreement amounts only to a licence. While, simply labelling the agreement a licence, will not determine the matter, the inclusion of other clauses which limit the occupant's possession or control over the premises will influence the court. For example, a relocation clause (allowing the owner to relocate the occupant to a different premises) or a clause allowing for on-the-spot inspections of the premises or imposing regulations governing its use are often associated with a licence classification. It is sometimes said that the Irish courts take a 'contractual approach' to the lease/licence distinction and are highly influenced by the express terms of the agreement. This is appropriate when dealing with two commercial parties who are in an equal bargaining position and, having received independent legal advice, will be aware of the repercussions of signing a licence. From RTÉ Radio 1's News At One, Minister for Housing James Browne says rent reforms aim to improve' tenants situation But this approach is not suitable when dealing with disputes over whether the agreement amounts to a licence or tenancy in a residential context. The Irish courts have yet to be presented with circumstances equivalent to those in Street v Mountford (where the occupant signed the agreement presented by Mr Street, a Bournemouth solicitor, which was couched in licence terminology with a view to evading the protections conferred by the UK Rent Act 1977). The House of Lords ruled that if the agreement presented all the key hallmarks of a tenancy, namely 'exclusive possession' for a 'term' at a 'rent', a tenancy was to be presumed regardless of any expressions of a contrary intention in the contract. This 'hallmarks' approach is more suitable when dealing with the lease/licence distinction in a residential setting. Such an approach also allows the court or adjudicator to look beyond the express terms of the agreement to identify shams and investigate if a tenancy existed 'on the ground.' For example, if the owner included a clause in a licence agreement allowing new occupants to be introduced to a small one-bedroom apartment, the clause is likely to be treated as a pretence as in reality, the occupants would be in exclusive possession. In these circumstances, in Antoniades v Villiers (1990), Bingham LJ commented 'a cat does not become a dog because the parties have agreed to call it a dog.' From RTÉ News, Threshold reminds tenants to make themselves aware of their rights around renting and evictions There is evidence to indicate that the Residential Tenancy Tribunals may be adopting a hallmarks approach in practice. In one decision, the tribunal was not convinced that clauses in a licence restricting visitors and allowing the owner's staff unrestricted access were enforced and concluded that, in substance the tenant had exclusive possession. In another decision (O'Sullivan v Conlan), the tribunal severed a clause from an agreement which allowed the landlord and his family to stay in the premises with the tenant on weekend visits for matches! Where a landlord offers a potential occupant a licence rather than a tenancy, these tribunal decisions may provide some reassurance to tenants and highlight that landlords considering this option run a risk that their agreement will be treated as conferring a tenancy. Legal advice will be of no benefit to renter who will typically be presented with a licence agreement on a 'take it or leave it' basis In 2003, the Law Reform Commission recommended the introduction of statutory guidelines to assist the courts in making the distinction between a lease and a licence. These proposals seem to have been drafted with commercial arrangements in mind and require the courts to give effect to the contract between the parties provided the parties have had the benefit of independent legal advice. Legal advice will be of no benefit to a residential occupant who will typically be presented with a licence agreement on a 'take it or leave it' basis. If legislation is introduced to give effect to these statutory guidelines, they should be supplemented with a statutory 'presumption of a tenancy' to operate in the case of a residential occupancy. This would clarify the law and reflect what appears to be happening in practice in a judicial and legislative vacuum.
Extra.ie
10-06-2025
- Health
- Extra.ie
'I was shocked' -- Family impacted by RTE Investigates nursing home scandal speak out
The family of a nursing home resident who appeared in last week's RTE Investigates have called for accountability for their father and other's impacted by the scandal. In a new interview airing on RTÉ Prime Time tonight, the Guy family from Dublin have described their distress at seeing footage of their father Audeon being roughly handled at the Beneavin Manor nursing home in Glasnevin. The documentary, which featured two nursing homes – Beneavin Manor and The Residence Portlaoise, which are both run by private company Emeis Ireland, left viewers in shock at real life footage gathered by two undercover healthcare assistants. Audeon Guy. Pic: RTÉ Investigates 'No one should have to go through what we've seen,'Paul Guy told RTÉ Investigates. 'No one should be handled like our father was. These are human people – people who lost their dignity and no one should have to go through that.' The documentary highlighted a number of repeated care failings including chronic staff shortages, vulnerable residents left unsupervised, the inappropriate handling of frail older people and a lack of basic supplies such as towels, bedsheets, gloves and sanitary wipes. Paul Guy. Pic: RTÉ Investigates 'Our dad is the loveliest man' said Sarah Guy, daughter of 80-year-old Audeon added. 'He'd do anything for you, really kind, loving, charitable and a big hugger.' Audeon was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia following a particularly bad fall late last year. His condition causes severe confusion and hallucinations, meaning he needs around the clock care. Paul, Sarah and their other siblings Kassandra and Dave began the search for a suitable nursing home for their father, having turned to the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) for support. 'I think there were 17 nursing home we applied for, and we went through all the HIQA reports for every nursing home,' Paul said. 'For Beneavin Manor we read the reports, and it seemed to be a very safe place to go. We looked at the brochures, I went and did the tour. It seemed to be fine.' Audeon Guy. Pic: RTÉ Investigates Their father Audeon moved into Beneavin Manor in January 2025 where he was assigned one-to-one care, however before long they started to have concerns. 'He was actually left alone many times,' Paul explained. 'I have examples of him sitting on his own in the corridor ripping up pieces of paper which was meant to be some form of activity. I've witnessed really poor personal care in terms of his toenails left for weeks to grow and rot.' 'On another day there was urine all over the floor in his bathroom and there was no toilet seat. It just seemed to be a consistent flow of poor care for people who are in dire need of attention.' Paul, Sarah, Kassandra and Dave Guy with their father Audeon Guy (centre). Pic: RTÉ Investigates Shocked by the level of neglect, Paul and his siblings started to make complaints to management at the nursing home. Their emails referenced concerns about a general lack of carers and residents being left alone. The family also referenced residents who wanted to use the toilet being left unattended for lengthy periods of time, while they were worried their father had on occasion been inappropriately handled and sometimes did not have enough clothes because his laundry had not been done. In early March 2025 their detailed complaint was upheld with management at Beneavin Manor assuring the family corrective actions had been put in place to address their concerns. However, three weeks later, RTE's undercover carer captured disturbing footage including their father. In the startling scene he is directed along a corridor at pace to his bedroom by two carers to change his incontinence pad. The carers steered his walking frame while one held the waist of his trousers. Confused Audeon lashed out before being forced into his room, his trousers pulled down and pushed into an armchair. 'When I saw the actual footage, I was shocked, but it wasn't a revelation'Paul said. 'That's what is unfortunate. We had done everything. We put in all the complaints, notified everyone that was required, got responses back, acknowledgement of all their mistakes, plans being put in place, and this still happened, and it happened to all the other people in the footage as well. That's the bigger issue – there's no accountability for this.' In the wake of the documentary, Emeis Ireland apologised to Audeon's family, saying the standard of care depicted in the footage was unacceptable. Among the actions the family was assured have now been taken to immediately safeguard their father is a full investigation into staff practice and additional management supervision training and staff. As the family now begin the search for alternative care for their father, they stressed that the Government must move urgently to enact the Adult Safeguarding Bill – a vital law which could protect vulnerable individuals like their father from harm, abuse and neglect. 'We hope this brings some positive results and awareness to all that's happened to make sure our dad or anyone's loved one never has to go through this ever again,' Sarah continued. Watch the full interview tonight on RTÉ Prime Time, Tuesday at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and RTE Player
RTÉ News
31-05-2025
- RTÉ News
Three stories from inside the Satchwell house
In mid-November 2017, Tina Satchwell had been missing eight months. RTÉ Prime Time reporter Barry Cummins visited her home in Youghal, unaware that her body lay less than ten feet away buried beneath concrete. He was there to interview Tina's husband, Richard, who was yesterday found guilty of her murder. Here he writes about that day, and later learning that her remains were feet away - a fact that troubles him to this day. As part of a special programme on the trial of Richard Satchwell, he has since spoken with others who were also in 3 Grattan Street before Tina's body was discovered, six-and-a-half years after she went missing. James McNamara has a story like no-one else. He was the Limerick builder who dug down to the spot where he found the sheeting which held the body of Tina Satchwell. It was Wednesday 11 October 2023 when James brought a Kango hammer into the house and down to the confined space, inside a cubby hole, underneath the stairs of the Satchwell home. The house had been sealed off since the evening before, when Richard Satchwell had been arrested on suspicion of murder. After a fresh review of the missing person's case, a search warrant had been obtained to allow for an intrusive search of the property. That gave gardaí the power to dig up floors, pull down walls, and excavate wherever they saw fit. A plan had been devised six weeks before James and his colleagues assisted gardaí with work at the house. The strategy was that there would be ten search zones at the property - inside, to the rear, and to the side. A kitchen extension which had been built by Richard Satchwell at the back of the property was originally earmarked for special attention by gardaí. But once the house was sealed off, and before any excavation work commenced, a cadaver dog from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) - Fern - was brought in to walk the scene. Fern has successfully found many bodies which lay hidden beneath the ground or underwater. She and her handler were brought south to Youghal and walked the entirety of the four-storey property. Fern started at the top of the stairs and walked down the four flights of stairs with her handler. At the bottom of the stairs, in the hall, towards the bottom steps, Fern suddenly lay flat, giving a firm indication that something was to be found nearby. The house was a mess. Dog faeces were on the floor in many parts of the house, and you couldn't see much of the floor space. A concrete mixer and a sofa were among the many items blocking access to the understairs cubby hole. Part of the structure beside the narrow door under the stairs was a brick wall, with one brick a different hue to the others. The wall looked odd, once you could get a proper look at it, with all the items finally removed from the floor space in front. The brick wall looked amateurish, not professionally constructed. James McNamara and his colleague Pat O'Connor, and a garda from the Technical Bureau, Brian Barry, were standing in the living room on that October evening, discussing the demolition and excavation work to be commenced the following day, when they found themselves looking at the under stairs cubby hole. "The house was manky, I'd never seen anything like it in my life. The smell was very bad," James told me. As they chatted, they decided to take a closer look under the stairs. James went into the cramped space through the narrow entrance beside the brick wall. "Brian gave me a flashlight and I shone it down, and there was lino on the floor. We pulled away the lino and we could see the colour difference in the concrete," James said. A section of the concrete floor was a lighter shade than the rest. Detective Brian Barry quickly contacted the incident room in Midleton. Gardaí immediately agreed the area should be searched. James McNamara got the Kango hammer inside and began drilling into the concrete, but he soon stopped the machine. He had been expecting to drill through up to four inches of concrete, the normal amount that might be laid for flooring, but the concrete under the stairs was much thinner. "When I took up the floor the concrete basically fell apart. The filling underneath should be solid, but it was just loose filling," James told me. James quickly put the Kango hammer aside. The space was too cramped to use a large shovel to dig. Down on his knees, he began using a trowel to remove soil and put it to the side. Even the trowel seemed too big for the space. Soon, James was using his hands to remove the earth and dig down. A portable light was put close beside him to help him see what he was doing, as Detective Barry and James' colleague Pat stayed nearby. James remembers it took just a few minutes. "I went down about the length of my arm, two-and-a-half feet, and that's when I came across the polythene plastic." Detective Brian Barry immediately told James to stop his work, and gardaí began preserving the scene. "Brian said to me 'Right lads, you're done' and told us to leave," remembers James. Two forensic archaeologists, Niamh McCullagh and Aidan Harte, then began slow and methodical work to carefully unearth what was hidden beneath the stairs, a staircase I myself had previously walked up while being given a tour of the house by Richard six years before. Interviewing Richard Satchwell By the time I had entered the house, in late 2017, Tina Satchwell was missing eight months. Myself and two colleagues, producer Kevin Burns and camera operator Shirley Bradshaw, spent most of that evening in the front room of the house in the company of Richard Satchwell, who had agreed to an interview request. By then, Satchwell had, on a number of occasions, been openly asked if gardaí considered him a suspect in his wife's disappearance. I knew as I entered the house that November evening that gardaí had previously spent a full day searching the house with no sign of Tina being found. I can remember as I entered the property the smell of must and dust, as I sat in the front living room smelling the bird droppings which littered the cage in which the couple's parrot lived. Valentine was the parrot which had replaced the previous one, Pearl. Richard told me that the couple were heartbroken at Pearl's death. "We cried for weeks, we had an autopsy done and everything," he said as I stood with him looking at various items on a shelf which spoke of the life of a missing woman. Various bottles of nail varnish sat on the shelf, the ones used by Tina the day before she "got up and left" as Richard Satchwell described it. The bottles were covered in dust, the house was dirty, and the situation was unpleasant. The interviewee picked up a dusty full bottle of Cava which he said he'd bought in Tesco to mark the couple's 25th wedding anniversary the year before. "Tina never opened it," Satchwell recalled, as Pearl looked on. "I don't drink, I'm a teetotaller," he added. We looked above the shelf at a photo of Tina. "She got that done up in Tallaght," he said as we stood beside the parrot in the narrow living room. Richard Satchwell pointed at clothes on hangers resting on a door behind a couch. The clothes Tina bought at a car-boot sale the day before she disappeared. That night, we only filmed in the front room. But to reach it, we had to walk through the hallway and the middle room beside the stairs. As we carried our filming equipment into and out of the house, we would have walked less than three feet from the understairs clandestine burial area. I have often reflected on my interactions with Richard Satchwell, and I am still processing it all. I was doing my job, interviewing a man who was making public appeals for his missing wife. On every occasion I met him - and I even had Richard Satchwell in my own car as we drove around Youghal - I would learn new information. The more I met him the more he talked, and the more he lied. Prosecution The interviews I conducted with Richard Satchwell were used as part of the prosecution's case, showing his demeanour and his comments even as his wife's body lay just feet away from where he and I sat on a couch in his home. I was one of a small number of journalists who had been inside the house at Grattan Street as Tina's body lay hidden, still dressed in her pyjamas and nightgown, as she lay face down beneath the stairs. Kyran O'Brien was working as a photographer with the Irish Independent when he photographed Richard Satchwell at the top of the house, beside the walk-in wardrobe where Tina kept the many clothes she had purchased at car-boot sales and in charity shops. The clothes were often designer labels, Tina always had an eye for a bargain, and she always had an eye for fashion. "All the clothes were immaculately folded and put in plastic and displayed very well," remembered Kyran. "And then he showed me another room where there was a sunbed that he had built as well. And it was all quite tight. It was quite a tight stairs. It was an old, very thin house. The rooms were quite small, but there were basically walk-in wardrobes." Like me, Kyran remembers there was a smell in the house, a smell of damp and dust and neglect. "There was dog poo and there was parrot poo and it was dirty. It was unkempt, it was smelly. It wasn't clean. And he kept trying to offer us cups of tea. And I kept sort of saying to him, 'we have a long drive home, so I'd rather not'," Kyran said. "It's terrible," Kyran told me, "to know I was in the house and the poor woman was not ten feet from where I was sitting. It'll stick with me." James McNamara did the State, and Tina Satchwell, a service when he got down on his knees and began to dig that October evening in 2023. It's a moment he won't forget. "We knew what we were doing was very important work. It was great to be involved with a case like this. It gives a family peace, so it was actually massive." The fact that machinery such as ground penetrating radar failed to give an indication of a body beneath the stairs is due perhaps to the fact the grave was so deep. Tina's body had been buried nearly three feet down, under soil, concrete and a layer of lino. And for years people, including myself, walked those stairs above, never knowing. There are many lessons to be learned from this case for everyone, and there are many vivid memories that will stay with me of my interactions over a number of months with Richard Satchwell.
