IT’S HATED and loved in equal measure – but council officials have warned a Bundoran businessman that he has 14 days to paint over his premises…or face the courts!
The Surf and Turf Lodge at Bayview Terrace has been amusing locals and visitors alike for the past nine months, ever since owner Killian O’Kelly gave his Victorian premises a facelift by painting it with loud colours….with an octupus as the main feature!
Said Killian today: “We used a professional artist and spent thousands of euro on it and we like it.
“There is nothing in the law as far as we know that says you cannot put a mural on your premises and now we have been given an enforcement notice by the council.
“The problem is we can’t afford any legal fees if it goes to court.”
Brilliant artist Mick Minogue said: “Everyone gets a buzz out of a giant octopus on an old house. It causes no pain or discomfort. If the neighbours hated it or were sick looking at it I would happily paint over it but they all like it. It makes people smile.”
But it looks as if Donegal County Council are about to wipe that smile off so many faces.
A spokesman said: “The mural at Bayview Terrace does not have the benefit of planning permission and is on a building that is on the Bundoran Town Council Record of Protective Structures and within an Architectural Conservation Area.
“On foot of a complaint received from a member of the public, Bundoran Town Council has initiated enforcement proceedings in accordance with its statutory obligations.
“Those proceedings have progressed to the stage of it being brought to the District Court.”
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