Holiday home owners blamed for hotel plan’s demise
The chief executive of one of the biggest construction companies in New York, and which is behind a number of projects in Ireland, has hit out at the influence of holiday-home owners in South Kerry getting “to dictate” what the true local community needs and deserves.
There is growing anger in South Kerry that the plans for a revamp of the landmark Cable O’Leary’s bar and hotel, the only facility in the village overlooking Ballinskelligs Bay, were shot down after objections made primarily by some of the roughly 300 holiday-home owners in the area. Amid a continuing decline in population, just 50 houses are occupied on a permanent basis in what is the heart of the South Kerry Gaeltacht.
A packed meeting in Ballinskelligs at the weekend called on local TDs to put down a private member’s bill to ensure that economic and social needs of communities are factored into future planning decisions. The meeting heard that planning is focused on architectural and environmental issues only.
Cable O’Leary’s, the only bar /restaurant in the village will now close altogether, according to a letter read to the meeting from Kevin O’Sullivan, president and chief executive of Tower Holdings and of OS Properties, applicants.
The building is unsafe and subsiding and negotiations on bringing a hotel operator on board had fallen through, said Mr O’Sullivan. As a native Kerryman “this development was always more than a business investment”, he said, expressing profound disappointment at the decision. His 90-year-old mother and relatives were in the audience.
“With the amount of local support and backing this development has received, it is very unfortunate that people who own vacation properties in the area, whose livelihood is not impacted by, nor dependent on the local economy and who do not contribute to its growth at the same scale as the permanent residents get to dictate what the true local community needs and deserves,” said Mr O’Sullivan.
He shared the community’s “disappointment over remote parties preserving their interest at the detriment of the immediate local community”.
Kerry County Council had given the go-ahead in July to demolish the 12-bedroom Cables and replace it with a three-storey complex with 48 bedrooms, a function room, gym, restaurant, bar, and a car and bus park.
There were up to a dozen submissions, all but one objecting, and the decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanála, which deemed the plans excessive and out of character with the area That was in line with the planning inspector and appeals from parties with permanent addresses in Cork and Kenmare who feared the advent of mass tourism, traffic disturbance, interference with walking and cycling activities, and the status of the area as an international dark sky reserve.
