A dispute over whether Dingle Town Park should be partially converted into a car-park by Kerry County Council has taken an interesting twist. The people of the town are to be asked in a plebiscite early in the new year to express their views on the carpark plan, said to be justified by the town's tourist boom and chronic traffic problems.
Ten submissions against the move and four in favour have been received during the public consultation process, according to the county secretary, Mr Philip O'Sullivan.
The plebiscite is the result of pressure from council members, mindful of the growing concern in the town for the future of the park. Mr O'Sullivan says it will have no legal standing because it is not provided for in the planning legislation. The result will not be binding on the council but, according to Mr Breandan Mac Gearailt, the Fianna Fail councillor who proposed it recently, the local authority would have little chance of pushing the plan through if the people are against it.
"I want the park improved and turned over to the people of Dingle for their enjoyment, day and night. In an ideal situation, there would be no parking at all in the park and I think that's what the majority of people in the town would like to happen. But if lack of funding becomes an argument for the council not to develop the park . . . then perhaps we can come to some arrangement whereby parking on a limited scale might be allowed in order to generate funds for the upkeep of the park," he said.
"The town park is very important to the people of Dingle and they feel strongly about it. The impression I got from management was that they were a bit annoyed at the suggestion of a plebiscite, as if allowing people the right to air their views by plebiscite should be anything to be annoyed about. When the people have spoken, it will be very hard for the county council to ignore their views."
The park is the only amenity space left in Dingle and, as reported previously in Southern Report, it has been allowed by the council to fall into neglect. Some commercial interests would undoubtedly gain if the plan to create more than 100 car parking spaces went ahead, but Mr Mac Gearailt and others are determined it will be restored for the benefit of the people.
Meanwhile, the result of another plebiscite, and this one will be binding, will be known on Monday, when the 600 people on the electoral register in the Moyvane area, between Tarbert and Listowel, will have their voices heard on the question of a name change.
Moyvane is Newtownsandes, according to all official documentation. The name change will regularise the position and Newtownsandes will never be heard of again.