Ms Lorna Cahill:

I have not had any dealings. I have avoided it. I am sticking my head in the sand and hoping that if I ignore the planning authorities, they will ignore me. If I contact them, they will confirm what we all know, that I am operating illegally. I am and I am not. This is my issue. Everything is grey. I never lived in an rent pressure zone, RPZ, until a few months ago when the whole country became an RPZ. I live in an area with a population of 10,000 or less. That was on the table and then it was not. I do not know. I contacted someone in planning on an informal basis to ask what I should do. I said that May was approaching and asked whether I apply now. I was told that there were no guidelines, that there were guidelines that were put in place in 2019, but the pre-legislative scrutiny was still ongoing and there was nothing concrete so we would have to wait and see.

There is the other, human side to this. I have just paid my Revenue bills for this season. I do not have the money to pay for a planning application and if I apply for planning, I will be going down a rabbit hole because the authority will then say that my septic tank does not meet the 2012 or 2014 regulations and reference building and fire regulations because the building is 30-odd years old. It is a small granny flat attached to my house. I am therefore terrified. That is my answer. I have not made contact.