Hotel plans near Rock of Cashel will damage ‘integrity’ of site, council says – Irish Times News Jani

A proposed 28-bedroom hotel near the Rock of Cashel in Tipperary threatens the “cultural heritage and integrity” of the historic site, an archaeologist from Queen’s University Belfast has said.

Dr Patrick Gleeson was one of a number of people to lodge observations on development plans at Moor Lane in Cashel, about 400 meters from the popular tourist attraction.

It has proposed a hotel in two 1½-storey blocks with landscaping and some demolition works.

“Given that the Rock of Cashel is also now included in the UNESCO WHS (World Heritage Site) provisional list as one of Ireland’s ‘Royal Sites’, I would also like to emphasize that “That this application will have a wide-ranging impact. The group’s writing because it undermines the setting, landscape context and overall integrity and authenticity of the complex,” Dr Gleeson told Tipperary County Council.

Dr Gleeson, a senior lecturer at Queen’s University, described himself as an expert on the site in his observation.

The applicant is listed as Marymount Assets Limited, which filed plans to develop the 0.6 hectare site in late October. The verdict is due on December 12.

Another objector noted that “as absurd as it may seem to imagine building a shopping center next to the Great Pyramids of Giza, or a hotel on top of Newgrange in Co Meath, here we are faced with an equally outlandish proposal.”

John Flynn, a lifelong resident of the town, appealed to planners not to “remember in 50 years’ time the people who put a death warrant on one of the most recognizable, important and beloved landmarks of the Western world.” signed.”

Medieval historian Dagmar Ó Ráin-Rhydal noted in her submission that the proposed development would not only affect the Rock of Cashel but the surrounding area.

“Therefore, it is of utmost importance that these areas should be preserved in their present form,” he wrote, pointing to its inclusion as a potential World Heritage site.

He said that factor would certainly exclude development of its buffer zone, an area he described as surrounding designated property “on the use and development of which additional legal and/or or traditional restrictions to provide an additional layer of protection.

More than 20 submissions had been lodged with Tipperary County Council by Friday night. He also appealed to people to file objections through social media channels.