Sir, We would like to recommend the excellent article by your correspondent, Lorna Siggins (April 9th), on the continuing campaign against a holiday complex on the Dingle boatyard site. However we would like to clarify a number of issues.
The Kerry County Council's spokesman claimed we had "plenty of opportunities for an input" into the planning study for the harbour area. The reality is that the quay residents, Dingle Chamber of Commerce and Dingle Peninsula Tourism Co Operative, were not spoken to in the compilation of the draft document of the Meehan Plan.
The quay residents made an 11 page submission on the draft plan, which was supported by the Chamber of Commerce and the Tourism Co-Op, yet the draft plan and the final plan are exactly the same. The opportunity to make a submission, and the half hour meeting with the consultants, was pure tokenism. Therefore we had no input into a planning framework, for an area crucial to the development of Dingle.
We would also like to clarify our position on a boatyard for Dingle. It is a matter of public record that we believe "a boatyard, offering repair and maintenance services is obviously crucial to the efficient working of the fishing fleet. We have no objection to a boatyard on this site and would view it as a vital part of our local economic infrastructure". (Quay residents' appeal to an Bord Pleanala, 1994).
Mr Coogan's contention that by moving 30 metres back from the original site he is removing the principle objection, which is the severing of the waterfront from the town, is nonsense. The location of his development would still be in the harbour area, and would continue to lie between town and sea. If anyone requires further information on our critique of the Meehan Report, we will gladly forward it. - Yours, etc.,
Dingle Quay Residents,
Strand Street,
Dingle,
Co Kerry.