A proposal for a £10 million hotel by a Bord Failte director in Killarney has been criticised by An Taisce, which questioned the wisdom of adding further to the local accommodation base.
The proposal by Mr Maurice O'Donoghue, also of the Gleneagle Hotel and National Events Centre, is for a five-storey, 126-bedroom hotel with top-of-the-range leisure facilities at Poulnamuck in a prime hotel area en route to Killarney National Park.
The area is known as "Killarney's Golden Mile" because of the number of hotels and guesthouses which line the route. Up to eight new hotels, many of them on the Muckross road, and numerous self-catering units and guesthouses have been built in the town.
Close to £172 million has been invested in tourism in the past five years alone. Earnings from tourism are conservatively estimated at £150 million annually, and the town can now cater for over 20,000 visitors - almost twice its population.
In its submission to Killarney UDC, An Taisce highlighted the overall planning for tourist accommodation in Killarney. It said it was now recognised that we must plan for "sustainable tourism" in the future. "And further development in the accommodation sector should be directed towards those parts of the county which are underdeveloped at present."
There had been a huge increase in the number of hotel beds in recent years in Killarney "and a further large hotel is questionable", Ms Catherine McMullin of An Taisce said.
An Taisce also said there was already a considerable amount of traffic in the area and the quality of life of residents who live nearby was already compromised.
Parking, too, was inadequate and ` `in direct contradiction to an existing permission", which showed 597 car-parking spaces on the site.
Permission for the National Events Centre was granted with this car-park space in mind, An Taisce said.
However, Mr O'Donoghue said the location for the new hotel was "ideal", as it was on the non-sensitive side of the Muckross Road and would not detract in the least from the scenic value of the area.
He has also defended his application as part of an overall forward plan for the Poulnamuck area and the Gleneagle Hotel and National Events Centre.