Green light for Tralee mosque

Planning permission has been granted for a full mosque with a Muslim Community Centre on the outskirts of Tralee.

However Kerry planners have stipulated “there shall be no calling to prayer” from a public address system anywhere on the site.

A decision on permission for a full mosque in Tralee had been stalled pending a decision on whether a call to prayer public address system was to be installed in the 23m-high minaret attached to the mosque.

Clarification was also sought on screening, parking, and the provision of balconies in a residential part of the proposal. The Muslim Community Centre, in a separate building on the site, is to have 10 bedrooms.

The application, which is 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 an assembly hall. It is primarily to act as a prayer centre for the local community, but accommodation for visitors is also proposed.

A large part of the traditional-style mosque building is made up of a men’s prayer area, with smaller, separate quarters for women.

A previous application last year was refused primarily on the grounds of traffic concerns.

A full traffic study has now been included with this application and it says daily prayers begin at 4.30am and end at 10pm. Around 90 people will converge on the site for peak Friday afternoon prayers.

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 headquarters.

Kerry County Council planners sought further clarification about whether a calling to prayer or other public address system is proposed to be installed at the development in a bid to protect the amenities of Tralee residents.

Mohammad Altaf, representative for the applicant, The Kerry Islamic Cultural Centre, replied that the minaret, while a traditional architectural feature, was no longer used for a call to prayer. Planners have now made it a condition of that “there shall be no calling to prayer or other public address system either in the minaret or elsewhere on the site”. Bedroom windows have been reduced in size and balconies raised in the accommodation area to minimize the overlooking of nearby houses.