FOR SOME reason Bord Failte is very reluctant to explain why it plans to spend £4.5 million of EU funds so that control of a precious public amenity can be handed over to a private developer.
It has recently approved "in principle" a grant for that sum for a hotel and leisure complex in the heart of Lough Key Forest Park, but the State body refuses to disclose any details or explain the reasons for its decision.
The forest park is a wonderful amenity, one that any community would be proud to have on its fringes and any hotel owner would love to have on his doorstep. Its secluded woodland walks open out on panoramic views of an island studded lake; you might catch a fleeting glimpse of fallow deer as you stroll through the trees to the lake shore, or watch red squirrels gathering nuts for their winter boards.
Ed Sheeran's Rockfield Corporation has planning approval for a 156 bedroom hotel in the middle of the 350 hectare park, with a conference centre, leisure centre, restaurant and bar near the hotel and 33 chalets scattered through the trees. An 18 hole golf course will also be built on the edge of the park.
There are mixed views locally on the development, which is hardly surprising. An appeal to An Bord Pleanala was rejected, although more stringent conditions were imposed.
The question I asked Bord Failte last week was a simple one: could someone please explain why a development of this size had to be located in the centre of such a jewel? No doubt a hotel and leisure centre will be welcomed locally, but why not put it on the edge of the park?
The response from Bord Failte's spokeswoman was to refer me to the developer, who is based in New York. "There is an agreement, and Ed Sheeran has asked that any queries be directed to him," she said.
Now, Mr Sheeran has his point of view, which he explained to me and to which I will return. But it is strange, to say the least, that a State body in charge of tourism should offer no view on what is going to happen to one of the prime tourist amenities in the west. Asked a direct question as to why Bord Failte had decided to approve the grant, the spokeswoman said: "We cannot say".
All she did say was that Mr Sheeran has four months to do certain things before he gets the grant. "There are certain conditions he has to comply with. They are confidential at the moment," she said.
The conditions include the provision of a fire certificate and detailed drawings, and they are unlikely to prove a stumbling block for the £31 million development. They also include the purchase of the land required from Coillte, which itself begs the question: why is the park not the responsibility of the Office of Public Works (OPW) which would probably take better care of it than Coillte has done?
The estate is the former seat of the King Harman family and was returned to the people of Boyle who in turn passed it to the State to look after. According to Frank Feighan, a newsagent in Boyle who is secretary of the Chamber of Commerce and who supports the development, the park was looked after reasonably well until it was handed over to Coillte in 1987.
He says the park "went downhill" from then on, as Coillte has a commercial mandate to make a profit from trees and had no interest in developing it as an amenity. "How it could have been allowed to pass over to Coillte I don't know," he says.
To be fair to Coillte, the officials there are much more forthcoming than in Bord Failte. Martin Brennan in Coillte is in charge of the park. He explained that the project began through an approach by locals to Roscommon born Ed Sheeran, who had become a successful banker in the United States and was anxious to do his bit for his home county.
The conditions laid down in the planning permission will guarantee continuing public access to the park, he says. "We made it clear from the outset we wouldn't support the thing unless it had local support and public access was maintained."
Mr Sheeran says the objectors had their day at the planning appeal and all the potential concerns have been addressed. "What we're doing is enhancing what is already there," he says.
He doesn't accept that the development will be a big intrusion in the park and says the sweeping semi circular hotel building will be "quite small".
He points to the enviable environmental record of the architects, Scott Tallon Walker, and says they would not allow him to mess up the environment.
Boyle Chamber of Commerce is an enthusiastic supporter of the project, according to its secretary, Frank Feighan. He says he is happy the public will be guaranteed access to the park and points out that Boyle will not get a quality leisure centre unless it is built by private interests.
Towns like Boyle are victims of the unbalanced nature of growth in the west. The rising economic tide is not lifting all boats, as development is sucked into larger regional centres like Galway and Athlone. "We find that Boyle is slipping, and we are looking to our own survival," he says.
Local representatives such as the Fine Gael TD, John Connor, are "absolutely delighted" the project is finally going ahead. They say it will give a huge boost to tourism in the area.
Others, such as a local Green Party campaigner Pat Fitzpatrick, say it will spoil a place of tranquil beauty.
"The landed gentry of the last century are to be replaced by the moneyed golf playing gentry of this century," he says.
Also upset at the plans is John Greenan, who has an electrical retail shop on Main Street in Boyle. He stresses that a hotel development is very welcome but says its location is "total absolute nonsense".
Many of the promised jobs will not go to local people, he says.
"It's like putting a hotel in the middle of the Phoenix Park. Would they be allowed to do it?"
BRENDAN Howlin's endorsement of compromise proposals to solve the Mutton Island crux was as deft a piece of political footwork as you are likely to see this side of the election.
It gave Galway County Council a clear signal just a few days before it was due to consider a report on a proposal by a Belgian company to build a sewage station on the island.
By a not so strange coincidence the company, Seghers Engineering, is proposing to build an underground facility which would receive the sewage from a pipeline embedded in the seabed exactly the kind of proposal the Minister for the Environment now says is the best solution.
In doing so, he has effectively "bounced" the councillors, and the council's engineers, into accepting the concept of an underground plant. This was by no means a foregone conclusion before the Minister intervened as some officials in both the Corporation and the Department favoured ploughing ahead with the original and now discredited plan.
The almost audible sigh of relief which flitted through Galway last Thursday will tell at least the elected representatives that if they dig their heels in now they will become pretty unpopular, as most people in the city want a solution and want it fast.
So the council is likely to welcome the deal with open arms at its meeting tonight. No doubt hosannas of praise will be offered to all and sundry - except, perhaps the Save Galway Bay group whose persistence has finally paid off.
Happiest of all is Michael D. Higgins, who found himself in the uncomfortable position of defending the original idea of an overground plant when many of his supporters in the city were dead against it. He has worked hard behind the scenes in recent months to try and broker a solution. To say he is relieved at the outcome is an understatement.
Local labourers who became disaffected during the row included Michael D.'s director of elections, John Cunningham, who resigned over the issue. The departure of the RTC lecturer was regarded as a serious loss to the local party organisation.
Mr Cunningham has declined to comment on speculation that he may now rejoin the Labour Party, although he has made it known that others have tried to woo him. Whatever he decides he seems to be in no hurry to make up his mind.