BY CONOR POWER
OSCAR-nominated Irish actor Saoirse Ronan is getting used to married life and is now making plans to demolish her West Cork house to build a larger home and garden.
Saoirse is understood to have recently married her Scottish partner, Slow Horses star Jack Lowden. And now Saoirse has lodged an application with Cork County Council to demolish her waterfront home near Ballydehob.
Irish actor Saoirse, who was brought up in Co Carlow, isn’t the first famous person to be seduced by the charms of West Cork. The long list of fabulously famous people who have settled here for good or for holidays includes Jeremy Irons, Paul Mescal, Harry Shearer (veteran American actor and voice of The Simpsons’ Mr Burns), Graham Norton, Emily Ratajkowski, John Krasinski, Steve Coogan, Ed Sheeran and Emily Blunt.
While the proposed new home will be bigger and offer three bedrooms (as opposed to two in the current house), the plans for the gorgeous site are also detailed on the application.
They include trees and hedge planting, with a focus on pollinator-friendly plants. It will involve a more carefully thought-out plantation on the 1.25-acre site than the current one.
By doing so, Saoirse will have effectively paid something approaching €750,000 for a building site – an excessively high price, even by West Cork standards.
Her partner Jack Lowden.
West Cork has always been a big draw for the wealthy and the well-known, but local auctioneers are reporting a huge increase in demand for those rare exquisite hideaways since the Covid lockdown.
According to Elaine Spillane, principal of Peninsula Properties in West Cork, the X-factor that brings the famous here is the very unspoilt nature of coastal villages on the peninsulas and the fact that planning regulations are notoriously strict. So strict, in fact, that Saoirse’s plans to demolish, rebuild, and replant are far from a shoo-in for approval.
‘I’ve sold an old property to an American family and it’s right on the water.
‘It’s a really run-down derelict property … they want to demolish it and build something nice but they’ve been refused permission so far.
‘That has happened in a few cases. The planners don’t seem to want demolition.’
Yet the difficulty to secure planning is not seen as a deterrent for many would-be buyers.
‘Most people that are buying here are quite happy that the planning laws are so strict, believe it or not,’ says Elaine, who has seen her fair share of rich and famous come through her door. ‘Because they tell me that other places like Donegal or certain parts of Kerry have been ruined by ribbon development.
‘People also like that it’s so unspoilt – the fact that there isn’t a plethora of restaurants, for example.’
While there are a few notable restaurants in the Ballydehob area and some of the coastal villages, the simple options of charming pubs is an appealing option.
‘It’s like stepping back in time for them,’ says Elaine.
In Saoirse’s case, she’s looking to demolish a much newer construction (built in the 1990s) so that might just work in her favour and complete her West Cork dream.
