Dundrum Heritage Group | Saving Dundrum Manor House, Co. Tipperary

Tipperary Co Co Planning Communication

Michael Murphy TD to Minister O’Callaghan 18 August 26

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Kennedy Frewen O’Brien letter to Tipperary Co Co Planning Dept.

31 July 2026

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Tipperary Co Co Planning

13 August 2026

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Fortress Planning Submission to Tipperary Co Co Planning

22 June 2026

DHG Response to Tipperary Co Co Planning Enforcement

14 August 2026

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Tipperary Co Co Planning Response to Fortress Planning Submission

02 July 2026

DHG Follow-up to Tipperary Co Co Planning Enforcement -

18 August 2026

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Utmasta response to Michael Murphy TD 24 August 26

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Tipperary Co Co Planning Dept. Response to KFOB

04 August 2026

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An Coimisiún Pleanála Decision - 24 July 2026

Final order: under s.5(4), ACP has decided the change of use is development and is not exempted development. Dated 24 July 2026, signed by Planning Commissioner Emer Maughan.

What this means practically

The use of the hotel buildings as an IPAS reception/accommodation centre now requires planning permission, and none has ever been granted for it — meaning the current use is unauthorised development. That gives Tipperary County Council a live enforcement basis independent of anything relating to the Manor House itself.

What was decided

ACP-323829-25 / Planning Register S5/25/127. This is the Section 5 referral that TCC sent to An Coimisiún Pleanála on 30 October 2025, after Utmasta Limited (the IPAS operator) had asked TCC to declare whether the change of use of buildings at Dundrum House Hotel — to accommodate protected persons and operate as an emergency reception and orientation centre — was development, and if so, exempted development. TCC failed to make a declaration, triggering the referral.

ACP's findings, in order:

The change of use itself (hotel → IPAS accommodation/reception centre) would, on its own, fall within the Class 14 exemption in Part 1, Schedule 2 of the 2001 Regulations.
The internal layout works carried out (identified by comparing current plans against planning refs 04/1238 and 18601273) constitute development, but are exempt under s.4(1)(h) and s.57(1) since they don't materially affect the character of the protected structure.
However — and this is the operative finding — the increase in occupancy relative to the previous hotel use, combined with the site's characteristics, means the development raises materially different planning considerations. This makes it a material change of use under s.3(1), which takes it outside the Class 14 exemption regardless of the above.
Separately, ACP was not satisfied that the wastewater treatment facilities serving the site (discharging to the Multeen River, part of the Lower River Suir SAC) have adequate capacity for the occupancy involved. It could not rule out likely significant effects on the SAC's conservation objectives. On that basis the development is not exempt under s.4(4) and Article 9(1)(a)(viiB), and separately is contrary to condition 12 of planning ref 04/1238, so also not exempt under Article 9(1)(a)(i).

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A Protected Structure Reduced to a Storeroom

The IPAS use covers the converted accommodation blocks on the wider site — Holm Oaks, the Square Block, the Coach House and the ground floor of the Old Wing/C Block. It does not cover the 300-year-old Manor House, which was deliberately excluded from the Class 20F change-of-use exemption.

Yet the Manor House — the historic heart of the estate — sits empty and unheated, its heating systems removed, while its principal rooms are used as a dumping ground. Photographs show Heras fencing, mattresses, doors, furniture and boxes stacked beneath original cornicing and chandeliers. Windowpanes are broken or missing on every floor, allowing water ingress; vegetation is taking hold internally and the fabric of the basement is degrading.

A conservation assessment is unambiguous: using a protected structure for storage is an unauthorised change of use that requires planning permission in its own right, and it sharply multiplies the risk of fire and of irreversible loss. Once original fabric is gone, it can never be recovered. Far from protecting the building, the current use is accelerating its decay — in direct breach of the owner's statutory duty of care.

Who Is Responsible — and the Breaches

Responsibility sits with several parties:

Tipperary County Council — the planning authority charged with enforcing planning and heritage law on this site.
The owner/operator entities — Brogan Capital Ventures Ltd, Steelworks Investments Ltd and Utmasta Ltd.
The Department responsible for migration — as the contracting authority that placed and continues to fund the IPAS use.

Breaches identified at the site

(under the Planning and Development Act 2000)

Unauthorised development — substantial works carried out without planning permission.
Section 57 — works affecting the character of a Protected Structure carried out without a Section 57 declaration or permission.
Section 58 — failure in the owner's and occupier's statutory duty to protect the structure from endangerment and decay.
Section 59 / Section 71 — grounds for enforcement action and the endangerment of a Protected Structure.
Unauthorised change of use to storage of the Manor House.
Unauthorised wastewater treatment system — no planning permission; 2024 testing showed discharge exceeding waste licence DW023-02, and a Section 12 notice under the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act 1977 remained outstanding as of 16 June 2025.
Environmental / Habitats Directive — the lands lie within or adjoining the Lower River Suir Special Area of Conservation, with the Multeen River running through the site, requiring a full appropriate assessment that has not been carried out.
Building Control Acts 1990–2020 / Building Regulations — no Fire Safety Certificate for the change of use and no Commencement Notice lodged.

History of Dundrum House

Dundrum House is a Palladian-style country house built around 1730 for the Maude family — later Viscounts Hawarden and Earls of Montalt — on lands once held by the O'Dwyers before the Cromwellian confiscations. Attributed to the school of the renowned architect Edward Lovett Pearce, it is an elegant seven-bay, three-storey house over a half-basement that remains substantially intact within its demesne.

It carries a national rating on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (ref. 22102010) and is a Protected Structure under the Tipperary County Development Plan 2022 (RPS ref. 1039). For three centuries it was bound to its community — in many ways it created the village of Dundrum itself — serving over time as a country house, a convent and industrial school, and finally a hotel and championship golf resort.

Recent History: Closure, Restoration That Never Came, the Ukrainian Response, and IPAS

The estate entered receivership in 2014. In 2015 a fire destroyed the ballroom and kitchen, leading to the closure of the Manor House — but the wider site kept going, with the golf course, gym, swimming pool, restaurant, bar and on-site guest accommodation continuing to serve the public and the local community.

In 2016 the property was bought by Steelworks Investments, funded by the Wenning family of Ohio through Wenning Holdings Ltd and held via the subsidiary Brogan Capital Ventures (BCV). In 2018 planning permission was secured to restore the Manor House and wider site. Despite many promises the works never began.

In 2022, with community support, the site began housing Ukrainian families fleeing the war on a temporary basis, and approximately €11 million was paid to BCV for this accommodation.

In summer 2024 the first international-protection (IPAS) residents — around 50 — were placed on site. Plans then shifted to a long-term IPAS centre for 277 residents, announced without local consultation. In April 2025 the Department entered a contract with Utmasta Ltd. That contract expires in April 2027.

Dundrum House - How it Should Look

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