THE TRUE essence of the Great Blasket island risked being lost forever if inappropriate development was allowed, a packed An Bord Pleanála oral hearing in Dingle was told yesterday.
The sale of most of the approximately 1,100-acre writers' island and nature reserve two miles off the coast of Kerry to the State is dependent on the development of a cafe and services building, including a wildlife rangers facility, toilets and tractor storage room, by An Blascaod Mór Teo (BMT), the company that owns most of the island.
Under buyout plans hammered out by the Office of Public Works (OPW) on behalf of the State with landowners after protracted negotiations a year ago, BMT would retain ownership of the services building and could gain ferry operating rights out of Dingle.
Kerry County Council granted permission to the company for the building last year, but the decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanála.
Sue Redican, who has worked as a weaver on the island for the past 20 years and lives there each summer, is one of four appellants against BMT plans for the new greenfield construction.
She told the opening of the hearing: "There is only one opportunity to protect, conserve and develop the Great Blasket Island and if we get it wrong, the true essence of the island will be lost forever."
Ms Redican said island construction required "more than a normal health and safety plan". She had witnessed accidents with tractors overturning and going out of control while working on the island and in one case the operator was injured. The new building would be on the opposite side of the existing village, and the old green pathways could not but be damaged, while there would be undue noise and other interference during construction.
"The terrain from the pier to the construction site is sloped and at times steep and narrow, and is totally incapable of handling the proposed traffic."
There was a need for a cafe, public toilets and limited accommodation but any proposed development should be undertaken in "a sensitive, authentic manner, utilising existing structures so as not to significantly alter the integral fabric of the island". Old houses including Peig Sayers' house could be used, Ms Redican said.
BMT was "being facilitated in creating a monopoly and was negotiating sole commercial rights for a cafe and hostel and a ferry service from Dingle to the island", under the State's buyout plans. These exclusive demands was leading to division in the community and to those who had come together to form a management plan. "Agendas of common interest" were involved and "that political pressure was being exerted to ensure a favourable outcome for BMT".
Britta Wilkens, originally from Germany, but living on the Dingle peninsula for more than 20 years and a regular visitor to the island, said she had objections to a modern "out of scale" building that would be three times greater than any existing construction.
The Blasket Island area plan drawn up by the county council stipulated that any new development should be kept to a minimum and "only minimal visitor facilities would be permitted", Ms Wilkens said.
The development measured 296sq meters, would have 15 toilets with septic tanks facilities and a 50-seat cafe. It would be out of scale and there was nothing basic about having so many toilets on an uninhabited off-shore island.
The hearing, chaired by An Bord Pleanála inspector Ruairi Somers, continues.
The Irish Times
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