FORMER MINISTER for justice and MEP Gerry Collins has been told he can retain a rock armour wall as a coastal defence mechanism to protect his seaside bungalow at Kells Bay on the Ring of Kerry.
In April 2008, Kerry County Council issued an enforcement notice to Mr Collins and his wife that the semi-circular structure on to the beach at Kells, which exceeds 16ft in height, was unauthorised. This was on foot of a complaint by a Dublin photographer.
Gerry and Hilary Collins, through their architect, applied for retention and, last July, the council granted permission for the structure.
The wall was erected during the reconstruction of the Collinses’ 19th-century coast guard station house which had burned down accidentally in 2006.
However, the council’s decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanála by photographer Jim Berkeley who said he had an emotional attachment to Kells. The “mound of rock” set in concrete and “entombing” the natural rock face, altered the shoreline and adversely affected the landscape, Mr Berkeley said.
He was supported in his appeal by An Taisce in Kerry which was concerned about the visual impact of the semi-circular structure, which can be seen from the Ring of Kerry tourist route.
An Bord Pleanála has now ruled, saying it was the first time it had been asked to decide on rock armour walls. It found it was development and not within the scope of the exempted development provisions of the Planning Act and Development Act 2000, governing fences, gates and walls under 2m. Planning inspector Aisling Cunnane said she was satisfied the rock armour was a coastal defence mechanism as the Collinses’ agent argued.
Rock armour walls were not natural but were becoming “an ever-more necessary element of coastal defence systems”, due to changing climatic conditions, rising sea levels and associated erosion, Ms Cunnane said.