Judgment reserved on visitor centre activities

The High Court has reserved judgment on a case centring on a dispute over the type of activities which may be carried on at an…

The High Court has reserved judgment on a case centring on a dispute over the type of activities which may be carried on at an interpretative centre in Donegal for intercultural activity.

Proceedings have been brought against Donegal County Council by Grianán an Aileach Interpretative Centre Company Ltd, which runs a centre at Speennogue, Burt, Co Donegal.

The company is seeking a number of orders including one aimed at restraining the council from stopping the use of the centre for nights of intercultural activities

In an affidavit, Ms Una Fullerton, a director of the company, said she had purchased a disused church in February 1988 and got permission from the council to use it as a visitors centre.

READ MORE

She said the council had put a particularly narrow construction on the activities for which the centre might be used. The centre had proposed to carry out a schedule of events featuring Irish and American cultural activities.

The court was told that among the activities planned by the directors of the centre was music throughout the ages in New Orleans and the deep south with Gay McIntyre, the Big Band and Johnny Quigley.

They also planned an evening of Irish/Scots music, tribute bands to Van Morrison and Horslips, country music with Sandy Kelly and George Hamilton IV and music by the Bob Marley tribute band.

The council wrote back saying that the range of activities suggested represented an intensification "beyond an ancillary activity" to the visitor centre.

Mr Jim Harley, a senior planner with the council, said in an affidavit the council did not believe the permission allowed for the use of the venue as a concert venue or for weddings or other regular functions such as Sunday lunches.