The leading actor’s plans to replace a €650,000 dormer holiday home near Ballydehob with a single-storey one almost three times larger have been turned down
Saoirse Ronan's bid to knock and build new West Cork home rejected by council planners
Senior planners have given the thumbs down to the leading actor’s plans to demolish a dormer holiday home in West Cork.

Oscar, Bafta and Golden Globe-nominated Irish actor Saoirse Ronan has received a rejection slip from Cork County Council for her hopes to knock and build a new home by the water’s edge in West Cork.

Senior planners have given the thumbs down to the leading actor’s plans to demolish a dormer holiday home called Boithrin Cottage which she bought four years ago for over €650,000 near Ballydehob, and to be allowed to replace it with a single-storey one almost three times larger.

Planning was sought in August via the actor’s movie company Slaney Productions ULC for a low-slung, but large footprint 332 square metre three-bed bungalow with rooms — including a library and an office — ranged around a central, enclosed courtyard.

View from the Ballydehob holiday home bought in October 2020 by actor Saoirse Ronan,View from the Ballydehob holiday home bought in October 2020 by actor Saoirse Ronan,

The application was carried out by Dublin-based Clancy Moore architects who have won major Irish RIAI and AAI awards for private homes, including a garden Writer’s Room for top-selling author Eoin Colfer, clad in aluminium and craned in over the roof of his Dublin home.

In West Cork, after pre-planning discussions, the architects had sought permission to demolish a c 125 sq m stone-faced 1990s dormer home and build afresh on a slightly high portion of ground.

The private 2.7-acre site has waterfrontage and views to fellow actor Jeremy Irons’ Kilcoe Castle across Roaringwater Bay.

Saoirse Ronan. Picture: Andres PovedaSaoirse Ronan. Picture: Andres Poveda

Neighbours in the low-profile scenic area include a larger dormer home in a cluster setting which sold for around €1.4m. On the other side is a private estate controlled by an overseas foundation with several houses, as well as a three-storey one entirely faced in stone called The Fortress, built largely in the 1970s by a London stockbroker.

Born in New York’s the Bronx, and reared from childhood in Carlow, Ms Ronan previously sold a Greystones home in 2019 for €1.6m and divides her time between West Cork, Dublin, London and Scotland with her partner Jack Lowden. She regularly attends Schull’s Fastnet Film Festival.

In rejecting Ms Ronan’s plans for a new build in Ballydehob, planners said “a reasoned justification for the demolition of the existing modest and well-integrated dwelling has not been submitted”.

The view from the Ballydehob holiday home,The view from the Ballydehob holiday home,

“Furthermore, the Planning Authority considers that the proposed new dwelling, to be sited at a higher level within the site than that of the dwelling to be replaced, would by reason of the siting, scale, design and mass not fit appropriately into the rural/coastal/high-value landscape, and the proposed new dwelling would seriously detract from the visual amenities of the area.”

Ms Ronan’s architects have been asked if she will appeal the decision, amend the plans or alter the existing two-bed dwelling, but have not yet replied.