The President, Mrs McAleese, is facing a Bord Pleanala appeal by Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) over her plans to build a lakeshore home in Co Roscommon.
FIE has lodged its appeal against Roscommon County Council's decision to grant permission to Dr Martin McAleese for a two-storey house and associated outbuildings, jetty and sewerage plant at Kilmacarrill, overlooking Lough Eidin.
It claims the decision contravenes the Roscommon county plan, which aims to control the spread of single houses in scenic rural areas, and says the proposed house "would create an obtrusive element in an unspoiled landscape and seriously injure the visual amenities of the area".
FIE says the conditions attached to the decision "are inadequate to ensure the level of protection required beside a proposed Natural Heritage Area" and the site map as submitted does not show access to neighbouring lands which are also under development pressure.
According to the county plan, which dates from 1993, the Shannon, its lakes and tributaries are "a major tourist resource" and it says "damaging, unsympathetic, or visually intrusive developments, such as sporadic housing, are to be particularly avoided in this area".
But FIE says the area is under pressure because of the availability of tax incentives for housing and other developments under the pilot Rural Renewal Scheme, which applies to Longford, Leitrim and large parts of Roscommon, Sligo and Cavan.
The proposed McAleese home, at 210 sq m (2,260 sq ft), is just below the maximum size to qualify for the tax incentives, which would permit 50 per cent of the capital cost to be written off against tax over 10 years. A spokeswoman for the President has said she may avail of this option.
According to FIE, which is co-ordinated from west Cork by environmental campaigner Mr Tony Lowes, the proposed house would "seriously conflict" with Roscommon County Council's objective to steer new housing developments into existing towns and villages.
Calling on An Bord Pleanala to refuse permission, FIE's submission by Tipperary-based Peter Sweetman and Associates says it would be "a tragedy" if the largely unspoiled shores of the Shannon were to be "lined with the holiday and retirement homes of the wealthy".
Its appeal also maintains that the decision in favour of the McAleese home runs "entirely against" a number of planning refusals in the area around Lough Eidin in recent years.
A condition requiring that the house "shall first be occupied by the applicant or by a member of his immediate family" could be satisfied, in FIE's view, "by a single day's residence". It says any condition seeking to ensure permanent residency should be for a minimum of 10 years.
Noting that the McAleeses are "resident in another part of the State", FIE says it "does not believe that sustainable development supports anyone's right to a second home at the expense of our natural environment". The President's spokeswoman has said it is intended as a permanent home.
