President Mary McAleese is facing further problems in her attempt to build a lakeside house and jetty on Lough Eidin in Co Roscommon. The decision by the local planners to give it the green light has been appealed by An Taisce and a group known as Friends of the Environment. An Taisce doesn't care that the applicant is the President and her husband. It simply objects to what it calls "the ill-advised blanket nature of tax incentives for entire counties in the west of Ireland". With tax breaks available in the area for owner-occupiers, the decision to grant permission meant that the State would be subsidising once-off rural sprawl, which was becoming particularly serious in Roscommon and Leitrim, An Taisce said.

The planners have already ruled that the jetty to be built alongside the two-storey house should be used by only one boat, which will almost certainly cut down on lakeside entertaining for the couple.