Shop owner warned of 12m euro fine on conviction on indictment, for unauthorised signage
A BUSINESSMAN who recently set up shop in Limerick, has been told to toe the line, or possibly face a fine exceeding euro 12,697,380.78, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both.
Mayor John Gilligan has come to his defence, and told the local planners to get real and stop driving investors away.
The Limerick Post has learned that the businessman, who recently leased a premises in the city centre, has received a warning letter from City Council that a possible unauthorised development has been carried out, namely unauthorised signage.
Now Mayor John Gilligan has called on the local planning authority to cry stop.
“This is ridiculous. Here we have a person who has merely changed the letters over a shop front and he is under threat.
“There are no alterations to the shop front. What sort of message are we sending out. This is nonsensical, and is driving potential investors out of the city”.
He continued: “This is all very petty and we should be directing our energy elsewhere.
“It all comes down to a matter of taste. I am told the businessman had no problems with the planning officers in Dublin, Cork and Galway, but we are making life difficult for him in Limerick.
He alleged: “There are far worse situations when it comes to planning, and they are being ignored”.
Another local businessman, who did not wish to be named, agreed with the Mayor. “Look at many of the shops that closed in the city inside the last two years and see the condition they are now in.
“There have dirty windows, posters all over the place, and now we have a person who enhanced one of our streets, being penalised”.
In his own situation, he added, he had purchased an adjoining building for over one million euro, but, he claimed, because of the planning regulations imposed on him for a small internal change, was now allowing the building to just sit there.
The warning letter to the new arrival in Limerick invited him to make a submission or observations in writing to the planning authority regarding the purported offence not later than four weeks from the date of service of the letter.
A spokesperson for the Limerick planning office said they had a good proactive enforcement record in Limerick, and that other local authorities might differ in their interpretation of planning laws.
