Planning decision on Kerry mosque stalls over ‘call to prayer’ query

A decision on planning permission for a mosque in Tralee, Co Kerry, has been stalled pending confirmation over whether a call to prayer public address system is to be installed in the 23m high minaret attached to the structure.

The application, the second in recent years, was lodged with Kerry Council on behalf of the Kerry Islamic Cultural Centre in April.

The proposal concerns a 2.24-acre site in a business park at Killerisk, on the eastern edge of Tralee. The business park contains an Eircom exchange and is bounded by housing. The mosque will have an 18m high dome, 23.6m high minaret, parapets and assembly hall. It is primarily to act as a prayer centre for the local community, but accommodation for visitors is also proposed.

A previous application made last year was refused, primarily over traffic concerns. There are few footpaths and there will be a need to realign the road if permission is granted.

Since 2006 there have been a number of applications for Islamic prayer centres in the Killerisk area, which is a short distance from Kerry General Hospital, the Manor shopping centre and Kerry County Council.

A full traffic study has now been included with this application and it says daily prayers begin at 4.30am and end at 10pm.

Council planners are now requesting further information, particularly on the possibility of calls to prayer being issued from a public address system.

The council planners are also informing the applicants they may need written consent from adjoining landowners and householders for the development to go ahead, a planning spokesperson said yesterday.

“A decision is on hold pending further information on around nine different areas,” a spokesperson said.

Traffic remains a concern, while the mosque could overlook a number of houses.

No objections have been received from third parties. However, a group calling itself Pegida Ireland, which is attached to a German anti-Islamic organisation, has begun an online petition against the Tralee mosque, signed by 212 people.

Pegida members campaigned in Tralee at the weekend and handed out leaflets against the mosque and calling on people to preserve their Celtic culture. A spokesman yesterday said they are to launch a party called The Celtic People’s Party shortly. The group denies it is racist. Kerry has the highest number of muslims outside Cork, Dublin and Limerick. Some 833 Muslims live in Tralee, according to 2011 census figures.