Village destroyed by ‘ghost’ homes blitz

OVER the last five years, my beautiful, tiny village of Caherdaniel in Co Kerry, and its immediate catchment area of Derrynane, has been shattered and its citizens traumatised.

Meanwhile, the Government has enriched its offers by well over €5 million (40% of the costs of housing development).

The village has been destroyed by tax-induced, mostly vacant, ‘ghost’ holiday homes. It has been denied sewerage and proper infrastructure improvements, and has been starved of so-called social housing.

Caherdaniel has been deprived also of access to daily public transport; it has been neglected by local politicians, and left without vital small industry and indoor sports facilities. It has also lost its post office.

This once idyllic country locale has received nothing in return for its multi-million euro contribution to the Government treasury.

A bureaucratic county council and an ineffective Bord Pleanála both ignore huge citizen petitions and continue their destructive, heartless and revenue-grabbling ways by the granting of more and more land-eating, ‘suburbanised’ planning applications.

This soul-destroying process has created devastation in this village and must be stopped immediately and replaced by sane, humane and intelligent governance.

Surely the time has finally arrived for a major change in the way our lives, and the lives of others who live outside the major cities, are being designed, planned and administered.

EA Cowan

Eisc na mBroc

Caherdaniel

Co Kerry