CLARE County Council is to vote shortly on a controversial plan for 46 holiday homes in Kilkee. They could be built on a scenic six acre site - currently zoned as open space - above the cliffs outside the well known resort town.
More than 150 people attended a recent public meeting to protest against the proposed development, which many of them see as a threat to Kilkee's unique Victorian atmosphere.
The site is a green area opposite the Pollock Holes, a well known bathing place which forms part of the cliff walk to Look Out Point, a breathtakingly scenic and remote part of the resort.
The £5 million scheme has been proposed by Limerick based developers Robinbury Ltd and designed by architects Murray O'Laoire. It is the latest example of the type of development fuelled by tax incentives for traditional seaside resorts.
Since 1995, when the tax incentives were introduced, 150 holiday homes have been built in Kilkee. Including the 46 now being proposed for Poltock Holes, there are more than 200 in the pipeline - and, perhaps, a further 300.
According to the Kilkee Planning Review Group, an ad hoc committee set up to protect the town from over development, there are already three holiday homes for every permanent residence in Kilkee, which has a population of 1,400.
"Tourism is Kilkee's sole industry and yet its very charm, beauty and tranquillity are being rapidly eroded by the spread of housing, and the thud of jackhammers, said the group, which is chaired by Dr Tom Nolan, a local GP.
The group has collected 600 signatures opposing the Robinbury scheme and it is urging visitors, "particularly those from Limerick who have enjoyed the wonderful scenery and walks in Kilkee", to join in the campaign to stop it.
"At the recent public meeting in the town, strong feeling was voiced among the locals that because of the environmentally sensitive nature of the site, its green zoning status should be upheld (by the council)," said Dr Nolan.
The review group maintains that the Government's holiday resort renewal scheme - which applies to 16 towns or areas around the coast - has "backfired and is now threatening the very resorts which it intended to support".
It says that dense housing is being built in the choicest locations at prices beyond what local residents can afford. Because Kilkee's sewerage system has not been upgraded since Victorian times, this is threatening its beaches.
Kilkee born Ms Ellen Byrne, who now works in Limerick, pointed out that the town had already lost its Blue Flag and she said it was "only a matter of time before the various bathing areas in the town become unswimmable".
Though Ms Byrne conceded that Robinbury's scheme was "quite a nice design", she said the real issue was that it would continue the sprawl of holiday homes in Kilkee, taking it beyond an earlier development called Diamond Rock.
"The scheme is tiered so that every house will have a view of the sea", she said. "The highest of them will be the same height as the reviled Atlantic Hotel on the other side of the bay, one of the unfortunate legacies of the 1960s".
Traditionally, Kilkee has followed the shape of the bay, spreading out in an arc. But Ms Byrne said the latest scheme would mean that the town would begin to consume its scenic cliff walks.
The local Fianna Fail councillor, Mr Pat Keane, denied he was so enthusiastic about the scheme that he had refused to meet objectors. "I've a completely open mind on it and I've also attended every meeting I've been invited to".
In general, however, he favoured holiday home developments on the outskirts of Kilkee rather than having them "crowded into the town centre". In the Robinbury case, he had requested a report on its sewerage implications.
Mr Keane conceded that some of the recent schemes in the town "could have been done a bit better". But he said more holiday accommodation was needed to ensure the viability of Kilkee's recently built Waterworld leisure centre".
The Robinbury site was zoned as open space in the Kilkee development plan, adopted by Clare County Council in 1994, so the scheme represents a "material contravention" requiring the support of 24 of the council's 32 members.
