Dragon lodges Longford planning application

Former star of RTE's Dragon's Den and presidential hopeful Sean Gallagher has lodged a planning application for a residential development in Granard.

The application by the former member of the Fianna Fáil National Executive is through his company Sean Gallagher Business Matters Limited to develop a site at Church Quarter, Granard, Longford.

The proposed development site is located off Market Street, within the designated development envelope of Granard and is zoned for backland development with the provision of inner relief road in the Granard Local Area Plan.

If approved the development will consist of 13 houses. Ten of the proposed houses are three-bedroom two-storey terrace type houses of two different designs, two are two-bedroom bungalow semi-detached houses, and one is a detached two-bedroom bungalow.

The application also covers entrance, access road, boundary fences/walls, associated car parking, green open space, connections into existing foul sewer, surface water and watermain networks and ancillary works.

The planning office previously gave Enda Sheridan permission to build 17 houses on the site in 2009 subject to 18 conditions. Prior to that Eamon O’Hara was granted planning permission for nine townhouses on the site.

The application by Sean Gallagher Business Matters Limited, with a business address at Farrankelly, Wicklow was received on April 12 with a decision due on June 6, 2024.

Mr Gallagher ran as an independent candidate in the 2011 presidential election, finishing second to Michael D. Higgins. He ran again in the 2018 presidential election, finishing third.

He issued legal proceedings against RTÉ over its controversial Frontline Presidential Debate in October 2011.