‘Fr Ted’ home owner to fight fresh plans for Burren site

The owner of Fr Ted Crilly’s parochial house has hit out at fresh Government plans to construct visitor facilities at Mullaghmore in the Burren.

Burren farmer Patrick McCormack lives in the home overlooking the iconic Mullaghmore mountain in the Burren National Park with his wife Cheryl and children.

All of the exterior house scenes were shot at the McCormack property making it synonymous with the multi-award winning Fr Ted series.

Mr McCormack was one of seven plaintiffs of the Burren Action Group that went to the Supreme Court that made planning history to prevent the Government proceeding with plans to construct a visitor centre at Mullaghmore in the 1990s. BAG opposed plans for visitor facilities at Mullaghmore eight years before An Bord Pleanála finally rejected the plan in 2000.

Now the National Parks and Wildlife is seeking to build a 27-space car park on the site of the abandoned visitor centre site a few hundred metres from the gate of Mr McCormack’s home.

The NPWS states that the planned car park is to facilitate improved visitor access to the National Park.

However, Mr McCormack said: “Do they not realise what we went through opposing the visitor centre at Mullaghmore?”

He said that the State lodging the application “cuts too deep and I believe it shows poor judgment to be looking to be building on the site”.

Another member of the seven and local organic farmer, James Howard accused the NPWS of “pure arrogance” in not properly consulting with local people before lodging the planning application.

Mr Howard said that it is “crazy” that the NPWS has lodged the application without an overall management plan in place.

He said that the NPWS “should stop knocking bridges and start building bridges instead and sit down with the ordinary people here”.

Calling on the NPWS to withdraw the application, Mr Howard said that “no rash decisions” should be made for the future of the Burren.

Mr McCormack said that he and the other six plaintiffs “put our homes in the line” in the various court cases.

The NPWS said it was not able to comment.