An information kiosk at one of the country's busiest tourist spots will require planning permission because it has changed into a shop selling soft toys, ice-cream, films and souvenirs.
Its emphasis was no longer tourist information for the public visiting the Killarney National Park, An Bord Pleanála has ruled.
The kiosk at Torc Waterfall, in a stone building with toilets attached, had undergone a change of use since it was first conceived in the 1970s when it was serving the public seven days a week with information, the board found.
It is the most visited spot in Killarney, on the N71 through the heart of the Killarney National Park. Kerry County Council, which has taken control of the building from the OPW, asked the board to rule on whether the kiosk needed planning permission after complaints about intensification of use were made to the Ombudsman. "Apart from a couple of posters in the window, as would be found in any similar outlet, there was no indication that any tourist information was available or being provided, either in written or verbal form," the board's inspector Máiréad Kenny said. The only sign on the building was a standard logo reading "i", she noted.
The council had already refused permission for change of use to its caretaker, John O'Shea, for a commercial outlet selling crafts because of the precedent this would set in an area of special amenity and the additional traffic this would generate, according to Ms Kenny's report to the board.An Taisce too had expressed concern about alteration of use.
In a letter to the council , Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly said she remained to be convinced that the development as operated can reasonably be described as "re-establishing the existing use as was previously operated by Dúchas".