Healy-Rae company refused permission to continue quarry operation over environmental concerns

By Alastair Tibbs, The Kerryman

A Kerry councillor’s company has been refused permission to continue material processing at a site near Killarney National Park.

Sunville Construction Limited, which Councillor Johnny Healy-Rae is one of the directors of, was refused following an appeal from an environmental NGO.

The Kilgarvan-based company focuses primarily on building construction and civil engineering, with Healy-Rae Plant Hire Limited as its largest shareholder.

Its operations included rock extraction at a 2.2 hectare site in Rossacroo Wood near Kilgarvan, with mining through existing permission taking place between 2007 and 2023.

Planning permission for the continued processing of stockpiled material at the site was initially granted by Kerry County Council, on condition no new extraction of material would be carried out.

However, An Coimisiún Pleanála has decided to refuse the application following an appeal from An Taisce, the national trust for Ireland.

They argued, among other claims, that the application did not prove the development would not be likely to have a significant effect on the Killarney National Park, McGillycuddy’s Reeks and Caragh River Catchment Special Area of Conservation.

They pointed to the observations by the Commissions’ Scientist and Ecologist that there was “evidence of moderate levels of silt present” in a watercourse that ran through the site.

The EPA also found the water quality of River Loo, of which the watercourse is a tributary, had dropped from good to moderate in their ratings in 2022 – the last time the river had been surveyed.

An Taisce added the absence of any water quality monitoring data for the site’s own watercourse further threw the application into question.