St Johnston man vows to fight council bid to demolish home

A St Johnston man says Donegal County Council is trying to put himself and his family on to the street.
Donegal County Council went to court to put a final stay on the home of Joe Lynch, because his house has been built a number of nmetres from where the original planning permission stated.
The matter will be raised at Buncrana Court again on Wednesday.
Mr Lynch says he is at his wits end, and will not be taken out of his home in Carrickmore alive.
He acknowledges that he is technically in the wrong, but says he has tried everything he could to resolve the situation, but the council will not listen.
The 45 year old truck driver who also sells potatoes, says he was told by his builder that he had to push his house back from the nearby River Foyle which flows right up to his front garden. Pictures of the surrounding fields show them heavily flooded in the winter months.
He claims he had no choice, and if he had built the house to the letter of the planning then he would be standing in three feet of water.
After objections were raised when the house was completed in 2003, Mr.Lynch applied for, and was granted retention planning by  Donegal County Council, subject to a number of conditions.
However, An Bord Pleannala refused permission for the development.