Landmark building to be delisted despite fears

A landmark building in Dingle is to be taken off a list of protected structures, despite a warning from a senior planning official that many old buildings in the West Kerry town have already been knocked down.

Kerry County Council voted 12-4 to delist Siopa an Dearud on the Milltown roundabout.

It was once the last shop in Dingle on the western side of the town.

Senior planning engineer Paul Stack said that the council’s primary concern was to retain the façade of the building. “A lot of the streetscape of Dingle has been already been lost. This building is part of the character of the area.”

The matter arose during consideration of a local area plan for much of the Dingle Peninsula.

On the proposal of Cllr Seamus Cosai Fitzgerald (FG), it was decided to delist the building. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors supported the delisting, with Labour, Sinn Féin and Independents opposed.

In a separate submission to the plan, Bernard Goggin of An Taisce claimed roads were being imposed on Dingle on an “entirely car priority basis”.

He said roundabouts, useful on the outskirts of towns, created serious problems for pedestrians and were an obsolete approach to urban planning.

More than 60 submissions were made in relation to the plan, which is for the period 2012 to 2018 and will provide a framework for the development of the area.