An Taisce and the Corrib Angling Federation have called for the immediate dismantling of a private harbour on Lough Corrib which was refused planning permission by Galway County Council and An Bord Pleanala.
If left in place, the harbour could "set a harmful environmental precedent for one of the great western lakes," Mr John Gibbons, chairman of the Corrib Angling Federation, has said.
Galway County Council has confirmed that it is investigating the development at Glann, near Oughterard.
The developer, Mr Liam Madden, is a former Progressive Democrats councillor in Galway who runs a nursery and owns land at Oughterard on the lake shore. Mr Madden denies it is a commercial venture or the beginnings of a marina.
Mr Madden said he applied to Galway County Council for permission to retain construction of one mooring, a wall and a fence to shelter his 32-foot boat. He had also landscaped the area, he emphasised.
It would provide much-needed shelter on a waterway where sudden squalls can pose risks to anglers, he stressed. Mr Madden said he had lost a boat in south-westerly winds over two years ago.
"I am talking about one mooring. It is total scare-mongering to suggest it is anything else," he said.
An Taisce and the Corrib Angling Federation say Mr Madden has shown "total disrespect for local feelings". Lough Corrib is designated in the Galway County Development plan as an area of outstanding scenic amenity. In March 1992 Galway County Council refused planning permission for a road and boat slipway at Gortnashingaun, near Glann Church. This was upheld by An Bord Pleanala in December 1993 on the grounds that the development would contravene the "outstanding scenic amenity" designation.
In its ruling, the appeals board said that the proposed development, particularly when viewed from the lake, constituted "an obtrusive feature on the shoreline" of the Corrib, and "would not be capable of being satisfactorily assimilated into its surroundings by any of the landscaping proposals carried out or proposed by the applicant". It would "create an undesirable precedent on the shores of Lough Corrib and would be contrary to the proper planning and development of the area," the board said.
Mr Madden says the current construction does not resemble this development, and is a modest installation. An Taisce has urged the planning authority to seek immediate removal of the development, and "nothing less".
