President's plan for lakeside house is turned down by appeal board

Plans by the President, Mrs McAleese, to build a lakeside home in Co Roscommon have been turned down by An Bord Pleanala on the grounds of visual impact and other environmental considerations.

The appeals board upheld an appeal by An Taisce against Roscommon County Council's decision last September to grant permission for the proposed two-storey house overlooking Lough Eidin, west of Carrickon-Shannon.

In its ruling, which could only be appealed to the High Court on a legal point, the board said the site chosen for the house was in "a remote, elevated and exposed rural area of high visual amenity in close proximity to the shore".

It said the house, for which permission was sought by Dr Martin McAleese, would be "visually obtrusive" and would contravene the county council's objective to prohibit developments that would be detrimental to environmental amenity.

The board's decision - signed by its deputy chairman, Ms Ann Quinn - also said the house and its boat-mooring jetty would conflict with the Roscommon County Development Plan's objective to protect an area of ornithological and ecological importance.

It also referred to the sloping nature of the site, with its high water table, and said that notwithstanding the use of an effluent treatment system the development "would constitute an unacceptable risk of pollution to the lake and would be prejudicial to public health".

An Taisce, which had been strongly condemned by Roscommon county councillors for lodging its appeal against the President's plans, had no comment to make yesterday on the outcome, other than saying An Bord Pleanala's ruling stood for itself.

Mr Bernard McHugh, of McHugh Consultants, who advised the McAleeses in responding to the appeal, said he would wait for the report of the planning inspector who dealt with the case before commenting.

Friends of the Irish Environment had lodged a separate appeal against the proposed development, but the board dismissed this as "without substance or foundation" after Mr McHugh pointed out that FIE had inspected the wrong site.

It is understood that the McAleese family have a 30-acre holding and could exercise the option of seeking planning permission for a house at a less sensitive location on the property, removed from the lakeshore.

One of the issues that arose over the President's plans was that they had been drafted by a building surveyor in Carrick-onShannon, rather than a qualified architect. However, design was not among the issues cited by An Bord Pleanala in its ruling.

The President's spokeswoman, Ms Eileen Gleeson, said the McAleeses were "obviously disappointed" because they felt that everything possible had been done to screen the house. But they respected the board's decision and looked forward to reading the file.