A holiday home development in the Gaeltacht village of Baile na nGall (Ballydavid) in west Kerry has been refused planning permission by An Bord Pleanála
The board's inspector said the continued build-up of short-term occupancy, holiday home-type development in the village would result in the dilution of the linguistic and cultural strengths of this Gaeltacht village.
The inspector said a condition imposed by Kerry County Council to largely restrict the use of the holiday homes to Irish speakers was unworkable and impractical.
The development of eight holiday homes, along with an administration building, on the eastern side of the village near Smerwick Harbour, was granted permission by the council last September.
However, a third party appealed the decision and there were a number of observations from An Taisce, Údarás na Gaeltachta and others which opposed the scheme on the grounds that it would dilute the Irish language and make "a ghost town" out of the village in winter because of the numbers of holiday homes already in the area.
There was no doubt, Údarás na Gaeltachta argued, that holiday homes led to the erosion and weakening of the language and community.
Baile na nGall is one of the strongest Irish-speaking villages in the country.
According to the census of 2002, over 90 per cent of the population there speak the language and 85 per cent do so on a daily basis.
Planning inspector Kevin Moore, who visited the site, said: "The scale of holiday home development has clearly overtaken the scale of permanent housing units and this must be regarded as unsustainable.
"Holiday home development is not now revitalising the village but rather is ensuring that the development of the village as a permanent residential settlement centre is continually eroding."
Mr Moore rejected a condition imposed by the county council restricting letting to Irish speakers as "neither practical nor feasible".
"It is clearly the intention that houses in this scheme are to be used as short-term holiday letting units. Attaching occupancy conditions for short-term lettings are impractical," Mr Moore said.
One condition imposed by Kerry County Council was that 80 per cent of the dwellings were restricted to occupation by persons who had demonstrated a reasonable fluency in the Irish language and that the restriction would apply for 15 years.
Developer Joe O'Shea, c/o Declan Noone and Associates of Dingle, argued the site was within the village, in accordance with the county development plan policy on holiday homes and there was a strong demand for accommodation, especially from people coming to learn the language.
The board ruled in accordance with its inspector and refused permission.
It outlined three reasons, including the adverse effect on the long-term sustainability of the Irish-speaking village, lack of sewage facilities and the scale and design of the houses.