The State's plans to buy the Great Blasket island and turn it into a national park have been thrown into disarray after a majority of landowners said they were rejecting a new deal.
Landowners received a formal offer from the Office of Public Works (OPW) to buy the island on May 29th, but claim it "throws out" almost everything negotiated since they first agreed the sale of the island under a heads of agreement made in 2002.
At a meeting to discuss the offer in Dingle on Monday night, landowners accused the OPW of reneging on talks to involve them in the future of the island and create a public-private partnership which the Government had set out as the future framework for the island.
"If we owned a house on a street in Dublin the State wanted to buy, we would not be treated like this," said one of the house owners, Donncha Ó Dálaigh.
He and the four other landowners at the meeting represent 21 of the 25 houses and holdings on the island, including those once inhabited by Peig Sayers, Tomás Ó Criomthain and Muiris Ó Suilleabháin.
Under the 2002 deal, landowners involved in the negotiation were to receive €68,000 for each of their holdings.
It also included a plan to develop a new walk-on-walk-off ferry service, a cafe, public facilities and a detailed management plan for the island.
Solicitor Peter Callery is the largest landowner, with 17 of the 25 holdings, and runs the ferry service from Dingle. He said if the OPW had stuck to the original 2002 deal they would be happy to hand over the island to the State.
He said the €1 million he stood to get from the sale "wasn't half" of the amount he had invested over the years.
Mr Callery added that he and the OPW had agreed compensation of €950,000 in projected loss of revenue when the State took over the island and boat access.
He has now been offered €350,000 in compensation for loss of revenue and said he would definitely not be signing a sales agreement by the OPW's deadline of July 7th.
The OPW said yesterday it could not comment on the landowners' decision as it had not received any communication from the owners apart from a letter from one man rejecting the offer of compensation for loss of revenue from a ferry service he currently runs from Dingle.
The dispute is the latest episode in a saga that stretches back to 1989, when Charlie Haughey's government introduced legislation to allow the compulsory purchase of Great Blasket island.
This, however, was challenged in the courts and deemed unconstitutional.