Healy-Rae absent as plan to knock his shed mooted

There seems to be shed loads of these shed type stories doing the rounds these days 😮 …

Healy-Rae absent as plan to knock his shed mooted
Anne Lucey

Kerry county councillor Danny Healy-Rae has said he was obliged to leave the council chamber during a planning meeting while another councillor, much to his dismay, proposed the demolition of his shed.

Mr Healy-Rae, who represents the Killarney area, said he could not remain in the council chamber and could not defend his property in his home village of Kilgarvan if he wanted to comply with ethics legislation, as he had an interest in the issue.

The proposed demolition was very distressing for his family, he has since said.

His brother, Michael Healy- Rae, who is mayor of Kerry, also left the chamber during the discussion on submission KG 13 to the local area plan on Kilgarvan at a special planning meeting in Tralee last Wednesday.

The submission by Brendan Cronin, who is also a Killarney area councillor, was “on behalf of concerned residents” and included other provisions for Kilgarvan such as a pedestrian crossing to the school, public toilets and a car park.

Mr Cronin specified providing footpaths on both sides of the road leading to the local primary school “by knocking two shed structures” (on opposite sides of the road) located on the proposed amenity area. The submission requested the council to acquire the land necessary for this purpose.

Council planners accepted the proposals and are now to amend the village maps to include the footpaths and road widening.

The plans, agreed to by other councillors, now go out for a final public consultation.

On his way out of the chamber during the special planning meeting, Mr Healy-Rae quipped: “I have to leave while the demolition is taking place.” Asked to comment on the matter since, Mr Healy-Rae said he was very upset by the proposal and felt it was “politically vexatious”.

“There is no need to take my shed. It has nothing to do with the road, it isn’t going to be the M1 we are building . If I went back to Ballyhar [ Mr Cronin’s village] and proposed knocking his shed, how would he feel?”

The shed had been used daily for up to 30 years, he said, and was used to store items necessary for his plant hire business. Problems with oil storage and so on had been sorted out after an inspection visit from council officials.

On the morning of the meeting “my young lads begged of me, ‘don’t let the shed be knocked’, but I couldn’t do anything only leave the meeting. My hands are tied,” he said.

Mr Healy-Rae said he was also afraid to approach officials on the matter “the way things have gone”, referring to ethics legislation. He does not know if he can even make a submission on the matter which is of interest to him.

Mr Cronin has denied there was any political motive. The other shed was not owned by Mr Healy-Rae and the proposal was badly needed in the interest of road-widening and footpath provision. “The two of them have to go,” Mr Cronin said of the sheds.

© 2007 The Irish Times