A €25 million hotel and conference centre for the seaside resort of Ballybunion, Co Kerry, has been given the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanála.
The grant of planning brings to an end a 10-year saga in the golf and tourism town. Last February hundreds of local residents walked in support of the development which had been appealed by a small group . Over a thousand people signed a petition in favour of the hotel.
The development is being proposed by a former mayor of San Jose who is credited with re-vitalising the industrial and conference heart of the Californian city on the edge of Silicon Valley.
Planned for 10 years, the original design had been scaled down to meet concerns about height and visual obtrusiveness on the sea shore.
The plans now are for 71 hotel suites, eight apartments, restaurant, retail and conference area. The development is on the site of the former Castle Hotel on the seafront at Ballybunion.
The development is being proposed by Tom McEnery, a third-generation Californian businessman whose ancestors come from north Kerry. He has twice been mayor of San Jose. From 1983 to 1990, he spearheaded the rebuilding of San Jose's abandoned downtown. He is author of a book called City-State: Change and Renewal in America's cities which hearkens back to classical Greece.
Mr McEnery has held a number of consultations with local residents, and shortly before Christmas the development was granted permission by Kerry County Council with 34 conditions. However, it has now been appealed to An Bord Pleanála by "The Castle Green Preservation Group". They are concerned about size, bulk and mass and argue that it is not appropriate for Ballybunion.