Housebuilder John O'Connor has run into difficulties with his plans to build 51 apartments in a five-storey block on the site of the Castle Hotel, in the seaside resort of Ballybunion in Co Kerry. The planning appeals board has refused permission for the development on the grounds that it would be "visually obtrusive" and cause traffic problems. The decision is all the more surprising because there is already full planning permission for a similar five-storey block on the site to include a hotel with 10 bedrooms and 61 suites, a leisure and fitness centre, swimming-pool and seaweed baths. There were no objections to that scheme nor to the subsequent one for the apartments when the planning applications were before Kerry County Council. But since then, a conservation group lodged an objection to An Bord Pleanala.
Mr O'Connor hit the headlines in The Kerryman when he described Ballybunion as "a kip" - but this week he was at pains to point out that what he meant to say was that Ballybunion "is a sleepy town that won't allow a developer to spend £5 million on providing decent facilities". Despite the setback, Mr O'Connor has no intention of walking away from what is easily the best site in the town.
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