Olympic sailor Murphy’s parents had jetty built on neighbour’s land

Couple also fined for not removing two large sheds on shore of Lough Ree

The parents of Olympic silver medal winner Annalise Murphy, who built two sheds “bigger than many rural houses” without planning permission on the shoreline of scenic Lough Ree, also built a jetty on their neighbour’s property.

Con Murphy and his wife, former Irish Olympian Cathy MacAleavey, were prosecuted by Roscommon County Council at Ballaghaderreen District Court last month.

The couple were fined €5,000 for failing to comply with an enforcement order to remove two sheds.

One of the structures was two storeys with a floor area of 107 sq m, and the other was a single-storey timber structure with a floor area of 124 sq m.

Under the order, the couple had to cease all works on their land on the shores of Lough Ree in Mountplunkett, Lecarrow, Co Roscommon.

It can also be revealed that the couple built a 30-metre jetty without planning permission on the shores of Lough Ree, on a stretch of riverfront not owned by them and designated a special area of conservation.

When challenged by the landowner, Mr Murphy acknowledged what the couple had done and said it was an accident.

In correspondence seen by the Irish Independent, Mr Murphy replied to an email wherein the landowner, John Fuery, confronted him about the jetty.

Mr Fuery inherited the land where the jetty was built along with his sister from their late uncle Jimmy Furey, the renowned boatbuilder, who died in 2020 aged 94.

Mr Murphy and Ms MacAleavey had bought land from Jimmy Furey – whose surname is spelled differently from his nephew – on Lough Ree after befriending him.

In an obituary in the Guardian newspaper, Mr Furey was described as “the finest boatbuilder of his generation”.

In January 2022, following the commissioning of a land survey, John Fuery emailed Mr Murphy to say that the jetty was “situated well past the boundary line” on his property.

“This represents a potentially huge headache for Mary and myself should you or a visitor fall over and suffer an injury while crossing our land from yours to get to the jetty,” Mr Fuery said.

Mr Fuery said he and his sister were “very keen to protect ourselves against such eventualities by formalising the boundary line between our two properties with a fence”.

“I would be very grateful if you could clarify your reasoning for placing the jetty so far across on the shoreline on J’s [Jimmy Furey’s] side of the boundary line,” he said.

In response, Mr Murphy acknowledged the couple had built the jetty on Mr Fuery’s property.

“We built the wooden jetty in its present location two years ago, not being conscious at the time as to where the boundary was,” he wrote.

“Subsequently, we had Martin Dowd survey our portion of the land down on the callows. It was then that we realised the entrance to our jetty is on your side of the boundary.

“Regarding the jetty, we will move it to our side of the boundary once the flood goes down and we can get at it – it is presently under water.”

Mr Fuery said the episode was “a major headache” for him. “As the jetty’s existence created huge legal and insurance liability issues for my sister and myself, I had little option than to report the matter to Waterways Ireland,” he said.

“With such national bodies carrying considerably more clout than local authorities, the pair swiftly removed all traces of this particular unauthorised structure.

“They not only failed to consult us before building the jetty on our land, but also omitted to inform us of its existence after they learned the jetty was on our side of the boundary and not theirs.” The jetty has since been removed. Planning documents reveal the site where the couple built the sheds and the jetty is a “high value” area in Co Roscommon.

The couple were issued with an enforcement notice regarding the two large sheds in March 2022 following an investigation by the planning department of Roscommon County Council.

The enforcement notice required the couple to remove a camper van they owned, as well as a “large steel shed and the composting toilet”, from the site within six months.

They were also required to “disconnect from the public water supply” and remove “all infrastructure relating to other public services including electricity”.

They were also required to remove the “concrete hardstanding on which the shed is placed and gravel hardcore driveway”.

In August 2022, the couple applied for retention planning for the sheds but were turned down.

In their planning application, lodged by planning consultants on their behalf, the couple said they believed the sheds were exempt from planning permission.

The application outlines Ms MacAleavey’s history as “a former Olympic sailor who represented Ireland at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in the first-ever women’s sailing event in the history of the games”.

The application stated that after engaging boatbuilder Jimmy Furey to repair her own traditional “Water Wag” class boat in 2010 she asked him to make her his apprentice and pass on his skill and workmanship in traditional handbuilt boatmaking.

The application continues, “whilst Jimmy has passed away” the couple sought to preserve the legacy of boatbuilding on Lough Ree by building at their site adjacent to his original workshop.

Objections to the retention planning included one from John Fuery.

In his objection, he said the facilities “were constructed without any planning approval in a tranquil corner of rural Roscommon that had previously remained unsullied by selfish developers for hundreds of years”.

On March 4, Judge Vincent Deane fined Mr Murphy, of Crannagh Way, Rathfarnham, Co Dublin, €2,500.

On the same date, Ms MacAleavey, of the same address, was also fined €2,500 for the same offence.

In response to queries, a solicitor acting for Mr Murphy and Ms MacAleavey confirmed that the couple were appealing the District Court findings to the Circuit Court.

“I had little option than to report the matter to Waterways Ireland”