This article is from page 72 of the 2006-03-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 72 JPG
A SPOKESMAN for the Doolin residents group that opposed the taxdriven holiday homes for the area said that the battle “was in many ways the community fighting for its own survival”.
“If these applications had gone through, it would have resulted in 25 years development in one year. This would have represented overdevelopment and turned Doolin into a ghost town with empty homes all over”.
The spokesman conceded that the issue “divided the community to a certain extent, but we have to live as a community.”
He also criticised Clare County Council for breaching its own development plan to facilitate the development, by allowing the sewage treatment plant for the proposal to be built on unzoned land.
“The council should really abide by its own development plan and we shouldn’t have to rely on An Bord Pleanala to enforce the council’s own development plan.”
The spokesman said that it was a regret that the residents did not come together sooner to act, as a number of tax-driven holiday home developments were already granted or it was too late to object.
“A number of the holiday homes that did receive planning permission are selling for between the €350,000 and €450,000 and the total value of the homes would be €20 million.
“This wealth is being accumulated by people not from the area and the tax reliefs represents a massive loss to the Exchequer and still we can’t get the €4 million for a new pier at Doolin. The holiday homes are taxdriven and nothing to do with the market. The style of the houses was also not in keeping with the area.
“With the drawing up of the development plan, there was a great turnout in Doolin and the people’s views need to be listened to.”
The spokesman said that land in Doolin is now selling up for €1 million per acre.