A proposal to create a new street in Killarney for a €16 million tourist development would entail the demolition of the Museum of Irish Transport, one of the few heritage-type attractions in the Co Kerry town.
The development application, which is for a pedestrianised street "as wide as Grafton Street", has been lodged by Halstead Enterprises, a company owned by the O'Donoghue family, proprietors of Scott's Gardens Hotel and the Gleneagle Hotel.
The mixed development of hotel, accommodation, bar, restaurant, leisure centre and 16 retail units would involve the demolition of the existing Scott's Gardens Hotel and other buildings, including the transport museum, which link College Street and the East Avenue Road in the commercial centre of Killarney.
Mr Maurice Eoin O'Donoghue, who is in charge of the project, said that he was keen to retain the family's relationship with the transport museum. He said that the plan was to relocate the museum in Killarney, but the family had not yet decided where.
The museum houses a large and important collection of vintage cars, motorcycles and bicycles as well as a comprehensive library. It was officially opened in 1987 by Mr Charles Haughey, the former Taoiseach.
It attracts up to 20,000 visitors a year, including car enthusiasts from the Continent and the United States. The unique 1907 Silver Stream, which featured on a postage stamp, forms part of its collection of 36 vintage cars, as does a 1900 Argyll.
The museum, which was set up by the late Mr Denis Lucey, with the help of the late Mr Maurice O'Donoghue, a member of Bord Fáilte and owner of Scott's Gardens Hotel, is also the focal point of a growing number of vintage car rallies, according to its curator, Ms Eileen Lucey.
It is now run by the Irish Transport Trust, which was set up by the Lucey family. About 65 per cent of the collection is owned by the trust. The remainder is on loan from private collectors.
"We want to keep it going. It is one of the best museums in the world. The comments in the visitors' book [tell us that people] are really surprised to find such a treasure in Killarney, and in Ireland," Ms Lucey said.