A widow suffering from arthritis and severe sciatica,whose planning permission to build a bungalow on her land was overturned last week by An Bord Pleanála, has labelled the planning laws "cruel and unfair".
Ms Ellen Gallivan (71), the last surviving member of her generation to live on the 160-year-old family farm west of Kenmare, Co Kerry, had been seeking for two years to build the bungalow to ease her mobility problems.
Planning permission was granted by Kerry County Council but subsequently overturned by An Bord Pleanála, which, she said, refused to take into account her personal circumstances.
"I have been turned down on environmental grounds despite the fact that myself and my husband have done more for the environment around here than anyone else," said Ms Gallivan, who runs a 119-acre farm under the eco-friendly Rural Environment Protection Scheme.
"There is a beautiful hill here. But it was myself and my husband who kept it that way. We could have made a lot more money planting trees but we chose not to, and now I'm being penalised for that. It's like I created my own monster.
"I don't want to end up in a nursing home in Kenmare. I want to stay here and work on my farm but they won't let me."
The case highlights the planning difficulties encountered by people living in rural areas since stricter planning laws were introduced to tackle the so-called Bungalow Blitz. The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuív, is seeking to change the rules - despite opposition by certain environmentalists - to allow the building of single houses in rural areas to slow the flight from the land.
Ms Gallivan has written to the Minister appealing for help. She said: "I could wait for a change in the law, and then reapply. But that could take two years. Will I survive it?"
In its decision, An Bord Pleanála said the proposed development would "seriously injure the amenities of this scenic upland area", as well as contravene Section 10.2 of the County Kerry Development Plan, which sought to control the dispersal of single houses in the rural landscape.
But Ms Gallivan said the planning board was "making me suffer because of what I've done for the environment. I kept the fields the way they were, with the broken- down houses from Famine times. I did that because I love history and I love beauty. It would have made a great grazing place."
Ms Gallivan, whose husband Christy died in 1996, had wished to build the bungalow near an access road as she felt isolated in the farmhouse, which was hidden behind a dense forest. "I can't get a mobile phone signal in the house. So if I slipped and fell I would be finished."
Last year Ms Gallivan had a severe sciatic episode which left her bedridden and unable to climb up and down the stairs. "An Bord Pleanála took none of my social needs on board. They care more about flora and fauna and views than they do about people."
She added: "I still run the farm to very high standards and that's not appreciated by An Bord Pleanála either.
"When my husband grew up here nobody knew anything about beauty. It was only starvation and hunger and emigration. He slaved all his life on the farm, from the age of seven, and now I find it's not his farm; it's not my farm any more."
Ironically, she said, neighbours who objected to the development, and appealed it to the board, had been given permission by her to erect electricity pylons on her land when they moved into the area several years ago.
A spokeswoman for Mr Ó Cuív said his position on rural planning was well known but he could not comment on or be drawn into any case outside his constituency.
She added the Minister would continue to fight for the right of people to live and work in rural areas.
