Flatley says planners are anti-American or at least Anti-him

MICHAEL FLATLEY has accused Irish planning authorities of anti-Americanism, and is threatening to walk away from his £20m (€31.7m) restoration of an Irish country house unless he is allowed a portico.
The dancer is increasingly frustrated at the demands being made by conservation groups and the local council as his renovation of the historic Castlehyde in Cork nears completion.

“I’m not sure that it has to do with me being wealthy or famous, but maybe it’s because I’m American,” he said last week. “They seem to be making a bit of a meal of it and I don’t know why. I know of several other people (doing similar projects) that didn’t have to do any of this.”

Flatley is on a collision course with Cork county council after demolishing part of the wall of his estate without planning permission to create a new entrance.

Negotiations between Cork county council and Flatley’s advisers are continuing, but engineers believe that the new entrance is at a dangerous point in the road and say it can only remain if Flatley widens the road and clears sight lines.

The creator of Lord of the Dance is furious at the delay. “I reinstated the east driveway — 1.25 miles long — and paid £200,000 for it. We got to the end and they won’t let me open the wall on to the street,” he fumed.

“So now I have a driveway with no access to the street. The lorries that come in to work can’t get in that way. They have to drive all the way round and it costs me a fortune. Basically they are saying ‘Sorry, Flatley. F*** off’.

“All of these people promised me, ‘Don’t worry, put in your drive’ and I put it in at that expense only to be told, ‘Sorry, Flatley. You’re a Yank’. Very upsetting, let me tell you.”

The dance creator has already been refused planning permission to remove the steps at the front of Castlehyde. This was originally granted by Cork county council but was overturned on appeal by An Bord Pleanala after objections from An Taisce.

Now Flatley is insisting that he wants a portico at Castlehyde and is threatening to sell the house if he does not get his way. He has studied more than 25 houses of the same period and says each one has a portico.

“I am not looking to put a helipad on the roof or a disco out the back. I want to put the original entrance that was on the house and it’s a portico,” he said.

“I can only surmise that if all these other Georgian mansions have a portico, I’m going to feel a little foolish if there isn’t one on our house. And I don’t mean our house, I mean Ireland’s Castlehyde. I stand on my principles and I won’t be made a fool of just because I’m an American. Maybe Ireland doesn’t want American investment any more.”

Conservation groups are unlikely to agree to a portico on Castlehyde, however, because architects have found no evidence that the Georgian house ever had one.

An Taisce has an effective veto over such changes because a covenant by a previous owner of Castlehyde ensured that the National Trust is consulted about any such alterations. Flatley hints that the portico is a deal-breaker: “If there’s a problem, I’ll kick in the extra money but I don’t want them to promise me again, like they did before, ‘Don’t worry, Flatley, just pay your £20m and you’re in, it’s all finished’, and I pay the money, do what they say and then be turned down again at the last minute because someone disagrees with something. It’s just very frustrating.

“I am not going to put steps there, I am going to add the portico that was originally part of that. I will spend the extra money, another £250,000. Now if they stop me on that, I’ll walk.”

Flatley bought the three-storey mansion and its 150 acres for about €4m in 1999 when it was almost derelict.

He has paid £400,000 (€634,000) putting back the original pathways through its woods, employing four full-time tree surgeons for three years.

“I have spent millions on that house in places nobody will ever see. I was hoping to move in there for Christmas but it won’t happen now. I don’t mind waiting providing it gets done properly. I’m not going to be made a fool of either,” he said.

“I’m not going to be walked on just because I’m American and not born in Ireland. I’m not sure what their reasons are, but this is just not right. I think this is horribly unfair.”

Flatley is one of several millionaires who have bought historic country piles and renovated them. Other country house owners, such as Michael O’Leary of Ryanair and John Magnier, have also fallen foul of conservation groups.

Flatley said: “Most of my work today is in America. I could build a home twice that size at a quarter of the price in Las Vegas and I wouldn’t have any planning problems. They would be delighted to have me. Their job in life is to get big-name people to spend there because it enhances the community. Obviously people in Ireland don’t share that feeling.”

He is confident that he could make most of his investment back by selling Castlehyde.

“If I take a loss, it’s not going to bother me, but I won’t be made a fool of.”