Kerry County Council yesterday apologised to the people of Kenmare for the overpowering smell from the sewage treatment plant which has engulfed the heritage town at regular intervals over the past few weeks.
The town is a former winner of the Tidiest Town competition. It boasts a number of top hotels and award-winning restaurants, including the five-star Kenmare Park and the Sheen Falls Hotel, the only hotel in the State to make it into the top 100 in Travel and Leisure magazine "world's best hotels".
But in recent weeks, an overpowering stench of raw sewage has sent tourists out of town. The smell has also hit the lucrative Kenmare property market.
One of the town's gateway websites aimed directly at retirees, highlights "no crime, no pollution, clean air and water".
Hundreds of houses have been built and sold to retirees and the town now enjoys the largest population of over-65s in the country. Thousands more houses are planned.
Auctioneer Mark Daly said he was showing a property in the Market Street area, when he and his client were suddenly overpowered by the smell. It was making it difficult to sell houses.
Senior official with the council's water services department, Ger McNamara, said both aerators in the town's 10-year-old sewage treatment plant had ceased working suddenly. The machines agitated the sewage to allow air into it enabling the "bugs" to do their work, eating up the sewage and its smells, he said.
The council was now trying to get the equipment repaired and were hoping to have an alternative aerator by today. "We apologise to the people of Kenmare," Mr McNamara said.