The Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Ms Sile de Valera, asked the High Court yesterday for an order stopping any works likely to injure flora and fauna on a site in the dunes and lands directly behind the well-known Inch Strand in Co Kerry. The Minister submits the site at Inch Spit near Castlemaine Harbour in Dingle Bay is of major ecological importance containing a range of coastal habitats of excellent quality.
But the land's owners, who wish to develop it as a golf course, are counter-claiming for damages against the State because they say the Minister is in breach of an EU Habitat Directive and subsequent regulations applying that Directive into Irish law.
They also claim the Minister is breaching their Constitutional rights and that she has acted ultra vires (outside her powers), unlawfully and negligently. As a result, it is claimed, they have suffered serious loss, damage and expense. In 1996-97, Kerry Co Council and An Bord Pleanβla declared that on the basis of plans submitted, the golf course was an exempted development not requiring planning permission.
The Minister is seeking the orders against the owners of the land, Mr James Kennedy, and his wife Ms Patricia Kennedy, Grove Street, Farrytown, West Chester, New York; and Mr John Kennedy (a brother of James), The Maum, Camp, Annascaul, Co Kerry, stated to be caretaker of the lands. The hearing before Mr Justice Roderick Murphy is expected to take four days.