‘Collusion’ in Blasket cafe plan rejected by council
The claim was made at a Bord Pleanála hearing, in Dingle, by Michael Sheeran, who operates a visitor ferry service from Dunquin to the Blasket island.
On a day marked by heated exchanges, he said the council had, in 2003, reduced the island from being an area of prime special amenity to secondary special amenity in order to facilitate the development of a cafe and supporting services by Blascaod Mór Teo (BMT).
Mr Sheeran — one of four people appealing against the council’s decision to grant planning for the 50-seat cafe —said this was despite the island’s EU designations as a special area of conservation and special protected area.
However, senior council planning engineer Tom Sheehy said there was “absolutely no collusion”, adding nobody had objected to the need for a cafe and toilets on the island.
Mr Sheehy said in the Blasket Island Forum report of 2002 there was agreement relating to the cafe and toilets and that was the decision of the forum.
On day two of the hearing, there were also accusations of lies and slander by opposing sides, with the chairman, Ruairi Somers, calling for an end to personalised exchanges and urging speakers to confine themselves to relevant points.
Barrister John O’Sullivan, representing BMT which owns most of the land on the 1,100-acre island, accused some of the objectors of making remarks bordering on slander.
In another exchange, BMT director Peter Callery accused Sue Redican, an appellant against the council’s decision, of telling a bare-faced lie.
Ms Redican claimed BMT employed bullying tactics during the process.
In a detailed submission, BMT said the cafe proposal was a considerable improvement on their first application, which was refused.
“It contains nothing contrary to the published conclusions of the Blasket forum and the (local) area plan, debated worldwide.”
“The only persons to object are four individuals who, clearly from their own evidence, have vested interests in delaying or preventing the development, and, regrettably in many instances, have distorted the true facts.” Gabriel Gleeson, of the OPW, said the site chosen for the cafe was the best. Also, the original scale of the development had been reduced considerably to take into account the concerns of the OPW.
THE core of the ruined village on the Great Blasket Island, evacuated in 1953, is in a very precarious state, according to a report by senior OPW architect Grellan Rourke.
He described the rate of decay as ‘alarming’, warning that some of the structures could soon disappear given the exposed nature of the island.
OPW commissioner David Byers told the hearing the OPW was trying to acquire the island for the State and to preserve what was left there.
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