Some €120,000 is to be spent on ensuring the continued welfare of 30 tiny bats on the site of a retirement village, it emerged yesterday.
Last December, €70 million plans were announced by the Dublin-based Master Group to transform the 18th century Carnelly House, five miles from Ennis, Co Clare, into a retirement village.
The project involves the construction of 120 homes of various sizes, 35 apartments and a 64-bed retirement home in a scheme that will accommodate 300 residents and create 100 jobs.
However, while investigating the site before seeking planning, the developers discovered the site is a nationally important maternity roost for the rare and protected Lesser Horseshoe Bat.
As a result, Clare County Council concluded that the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) lodged did not satisfactorily assess the significance of the impact of the proposal on bats and requested the developers to put in place mitigation measures to protect the species.
Ray Kelliher of Master Group confirmed yesterday that €120,000 will be spent on protecting the bats on-site.
The average spend of €4,000 on each of the bats follows Gama Construction spending in excess of €100,000 on a bat house on the route of the Ennis bypass. Businessman Austin Delaney last year secured planning permission for a bat house in conjunction with plans to redevelop Ballykilty Manor as a hotel.
The Lesser Horseshoe Bat can be found across northern Europe and Africa and is listed as a vulnerable species as they have become extinct in much of their former range.
Mr Kelliher said: "A lot of time has been spent on how we will address the bat issue and the care taken reflects the attention to detail in the overall project, which I believe is unequalled in Ireland and the UK."
Mr Kelliher said when the development is complete, a storyboard will be put in place to explain the background to bats at the site.
The assessment of the bats on-site states that it is the intention of the Master Group to dedicate the coach house entirely as a maternity roost for the protected bats and will create a new dormer-style home.
The flyover - which may consist of netting - on an internal road network will be constructed to ensure that the bats can commute up and over the new road without danger of collision with traffic.
Lighting is to be also put in place to guide the bats along the commuting route. Mr Kelliher confirmed that to date €4 million has been spent on the scheme, with an estimated €500,000 spent on the planning process and the purchase price of Carnelly being about €3.5 million.
Mr Kelliher said that he has been in touch with the local objectors to the scheme in an effort to address their concerns.
