Marc Godart-linked firm to avoid conviction over fire safety issues at ‘potentially dangerous’ building

A firm linked to landlord Marc Godart is to avoid a conviction over a commercial building in Dublin 1 it converted into an unauthorised short-term residential letting which was found to lack several fire safety features including viable escape routes.

Dublin City Council prosecuted Green Label Short Lets Ltd for failing to comply with a fire safety notice issued on June 20th last over the “potentially dangerous building” at Unit 1, Block G, The Foundry, Beaver Street.

Dublin District Court heard the ground-floor commercial unit was converted into a residential unit comprising six bedrooms. The council’s fire safety notice required residential use “to cease” until the matters specified were addressed, said barrister Christopher Hughes for the council.

He said issues raised in the notice included the need to install a fire detection and alarm system; a viable internal escape route; emergency lights and escape signage; and a protected escape route featuring 30-minute fire resistant material.

“It required the kitchen to be composed of 60-minute fire-resistant construction; it required all doors on the escape route to be fitted with simple fastenings so they could be operated in the direction of an escape without the use of a key,” he added.

Mr Hughes said a further inspection occurred on October 16th last and the issues had not been addressed at that stage, resulting in the court proceedings.

Defence barrister David Staunton pleaded for leniency. He acknowledged that “it was an unauthorised development because of the short-term letting aspect of it”. He said the firm has engaged with an architect to carry out the remedial works.

Mr Staunton said they were serious matters but he pleaded with the judge to note his client had agreed to pay the council’s costs and had pleaded guilty.

Judge Halpin said the firm has no prior convictions under the Fire Safety Act and the case would have taken a “chunk” of time had it been contested. He said he would not record a conviction and would strike out the case on June 18th if the firm donated €500 to Little Flower Penny Dinners and paid €3,884 toward the council’s costs.

A prosecution against Mr Godart, a Luxembourg businessman with property holdings in Ireland, for “egregious” breaches of planning laws with unauthorised Airbnb lettings was dropped last month.

Two firms in which he is a director, including Green Label Short Lets Ltd, accepted responsibility. They were fined €7,500 and agreed to pay “substantial” legal costs. That case stemmed from complaints about unauthorised short-term lettings, booked through Airbnb, at three Dublin 1 addresses – 11 Capel Street; Block G, The Foundry, Beaver Street; and Unit 2A, The Forge, Railway Street.

Inspectors last year found some of the bedrooms were windowless and others were in former shopfronts. By the time of last month’s hearing, work had already taken place or was about to start to bring them in line with short-term letting regulations.