Killarney Town Council has voted to rezone 20 acres around the Gleneagle Hotel for town-centre development against the advice of planners.
Fianna Fáil councillor Patrick O'Donoghue, who is also managing director of the Gleneagle Hotel Group, which he owns with his family, confirmed after the meeting that he had lobbied support for the motion. Cllr O'Donoghue is also a director of Fáilte Ireland.
The motion to rezone the lands was supported by a majority of councillors, despite a strong warning from planners that a new town-centre development would seriously detract from the "vitality and viability" of the town centre. They said it would be entirely contrary to the objectives of the Killarney urban master plan.
The lands at the centre of the rezoning at Poulamuck are 1.9km from the centre of Killarney. Currently the lands include two hotels, holiday homes, a large pitch-and-putt course and the national events centre which this year hosted the Fianna Fáil Ardfheis.
Five of the nine councillors had put their names to the motion that the land be rezoned from its current unformulated status to "tourism and associated town-centre facilities".
Cllr O'Donoghue was present in the council chamber throughout the meeting on Monday night when the zoning was voted on.
He abstained from the two votes on the motion.
During a brief adjournment, he indicated to some councillors that he did not wish to accept an amendment proposed by planners to drop the town-centre designation.
The town planner and town clerk told the meeting they had no objection to the proposed regularisation of the site for tourism-related facilities, which they felt was "an appropriate designation".
But they pleaded with councillors not to dilute the core objective of current town plans and that the proposal would effectively attach a town-centre zoning to the site.
"The executive are strongly opposed to the application of associated town-centre facilities to the proposed rezoning as it will effectively attach a town-centre zoning to the site," executive planner Fiona O'Sullivan said.
Ms O'Sullivan outlined up to 20 uses permitted by a tourism facilities designation including a museum, neighbourhood retail, outdoor and indoor leisure and conference facilities as a more appropriate zoning.
Under town-centre zoning, retail apartments, offices, residential and financial institutions as well as high-density housing and a complete mix of uses would be allowed, she added.
Fianna Fáil councillor Brian O'Leary, supporting the town-centre zoning for the hotel, said the large land bank belonged to people well known for developing tourism in Killarney.
Other councillors spoke of the benefits brought by the events centre to the area.
Town clerk Michael O'Leary urged councillors to remember that the issue was not about who owned the land, or what the hotels and the national event centre had contributed to the town, but about planning for the town as a whole.
Cllr O'Donoghue said after the meeting that he had no immediate plans for the lands but that at the moment he was limited in what he could do because of the unformulated designation.
He had suggested the wording to the councillors, he said.
The proposed new zoning will first have to be screened to see if a strategic environmental assessment is necessary.
It will then go for public consultation before it comes back before the council.
Fine Gael councillor Sheila Casey, who voted for the rezoning and was one of the proposers of the motion, is an employee of the Gleneagle Group.
Yesterday Ms Casey said the idea of any conflict of interest had not occurred to her.