Arrest warrant issued for former garda over unauthorised Connemara home

A judge has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of a former garda who failed to appear in a Co Galway court to answer a planning enforcement case about an unauthorised structure in Connemara that has been before the courts for a decade.

Judge Brendan O’Reilly issued the bench warrant for the arrest of 83-year-old Brian DeCourcey of Main Street, Ahascragh, Ballinasloe, who failed to appear at Derrynea District Court on Thursday.

Galway County Council took enforcement proceedings against DeCourcey, who has defied a court order to demolish a steel shed that was turned into a home overlooking a beach in Cleggan in north Connemara without planning permission.

The structure, with gross floor space of 136sq m (1,464sq ft) at Rossadillisk, Cleggan, is located on a 0.326-acre site on a cul-de-sac overlooking Cleggan Bay about 3.5km from Cleggan village.

It is unclear when it was built but the local authority refused a planning application for retention in 2015.

O’Reilly said the planning enforcement matter first came before the courts in November 2016 when DeCourcey was issued an enforcement notice to demolish the structure.

In May 2018, the now-retired judge Mary Fahy ordered him to demolish the unauthorised structure. This was not complied with.

In 2024, she ordered DeCourcey to serve five days in prison if he didn’t comply.

The council applied in April of this year for a committal to prison for failure to comply with the court order.

The local authority said it does not accept that the defendant cannot afford to demolish the shed. The council previously claimed expensive stone cladding had been added to the steel shed after enforcement proceedings and it was being used as accommodation.

DeCourcey was not present in Clifden District Court on October 9th when the matter was last mentioned. It was said he fell ill before the court went into session.

The defence solicitor for DeCourcey, Dermot McDermott, applied for an adjournment on Thursday’s sitting in Derrynea on medical grounds. He said his client had a medical appointment and could not attend court.

Alan Ledwith, barrister for the council, said the medical appointment was for the afternoon and there was “no reason why he shouldn’t be present for this case” in the morning.

After studying the latest medical report, O’Reilly said there was no documentation affirming that he was sick on the day of the last court appearance in Clifden.

“The documentation reads that he told the doctor he was sick,” the judge said.

He said that at the Clifden sitting on October 9th the matter was fixed for hearing on November 5th in Derrynea.

The medical report indicated that subsequently, on October 21st, DeCourcey accepted a medical appointment for November 5th “when he knew he was to be here” in Derrynea, he said.

The medical appointment was for 1pm and he should have been in court at 10.30am, the judge said.

“I’m issuing a bench warrant. I was very clear on the 9th of October [in Clifden court] that I wanted him to be present in court,” O’Reilly said.

McDermott asked the judge to reconsider, due to his age, and ill health. O’Reilly replied: “I don’t mean to be crass about it” but DeCourcey “was a younger man in 2018 ... the bench warrant stands.

“The case is frustrated by your client’s non-appearance.”

McDermott and Ledwith confirmed the defendant had paid €1,750 in costs to the county council.

O’Reilly said bench warrants were a matter for the Garda, but “the sooner it is executed the better”.

The judge added that this matter has been ongoing since 2016, and if gardaí executed the bench warrant he could deal with it before the next hearing day in Derrynea on January 14th.