When a blue flag on a beach becomes more important than the right of a local person to build a house on his own land, then it comes with too high a price tag, according to Erris-based Fianna Fáil county councillor Mr Frankie Leneghan.
Mr Leneghan was reacting to a decision by Mayo County Council to refuse planning permission to a man in Clogher, Belmullet, to erect a house on his father's nineacre farm. The farm is located beside the Blue Flag beach of Ely Bay.
"It's time we took the blue flags and tossed them into the sea", Cllr Leneghan told his colleagues at a planning meeting of Mayo County Council. "If the flags come at the expense of local people living in local areas then they're not worth it," he argued.
"I know the man that is seeking planning permission for a house. He has a wife and a child and what are we as an authority saying to rural people if we continue to deny them the right to build on their own land?" he asked.
Mayo chief planner Ms Breeda Gannon told councillors at the monthly planning meeting that the authority was refusing the planning application of Mr Michael Geraghty, on the grounds that the proposed dwelling was in an area of high scenic amenity and was also in a designated SAC.
However, Cllr Leneghan could not accept this reasoning. He was supported by another Erris-based councillor, Fine Gael's Mr Gerry Coyle.
"The Geraghty family have protected the local environment for generations. Then some official in Europe decides to penalise the family for their efforts by designating the area an SAC, without any reference to them.
"I don't know of anything that Mayo County Council did, or that the EU did to protect the beach at Ely Bay in order that it qualified for a Blue Flag, but I do know that the Geraghtys cared for the local environment in their work and lives for generations," Mr Coyle stated.
Blue Flag status is awarded to beaches across Europe each year for the quality of bathing water.