Opposition is building to plans for a €40 million tourist facility at the environmentally sensitive Magheramore Beach in Co Wicklow.
The proposed development would contain a gym, cinema, bar and restaurant, an outdoor pool and 48 “high-quality accommodation pods”.
Magheramore beach, cliff top, access driveway and headland – located south of Wicklow town between Blainroe and Brittas Bay – includes some 20 coastal acres and spectacular views over the Irish Sea.
The site is very popular with day-trippers, swimmers and surfers. It has become a property play at least three times in the last 30 years as various developers have unsuccessfully sought permission for development.
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Earlier this month the latest owners – Creatively Pacific Ltd, a subsidiary of building firm Oakmount – submitted a planning application to Wicklow County Council for a resort facility that would also include a surf school.
Paddy McKillen jnr and Matthew Ryan, who head the Press-Up Hospitality Group, are behind Creatively Pacific Ltd. They recruited economist Jim Power to evaluate the Magheramore scheme, and Mr Power concluded that after an 18-month construction phase, the resort would employ 160 people.
But the application has led to an outcry among locals and others who point out the site with the exception of the access driveway is part of the Magherabeg designated special area of conservation.
Last week a public meeting held in Wicklow heard a number of campaigns have already started in opposition to the proposed development.
Among them is a petition on Change.org which has close to 8,500 signatures.
The petition was initiated by Martin Dyar who said Magheramore’s “current healthy condition and its famous biodiversity are the result of long-standing activism”. He said it was “an unfortunate irony” that the pristine nature of the site was what was made it attractive to developers.
Kezia Wright of the group Climate Love Ireland said the beach and surrounding area is a sensitive ecological site and wintering ground for the critically endangered Curlew, “not to mention other species”.
She told The Irish Times that Magheramore was a beach known for its beauty and serenity. “What we need here are respect pristine waters and value for a healthy biodiversity, not enthusiasm for a property development.”
Ms Wright said Magheramore had been among the most commented-on issues on the group’s Instagram page.
A Save Magheramore campaign has also opened on Twitter. The campaign describes its identity and aims as “a community defending Magheramore beach and its environs in Wicklow. Calling on the Oakmount developers to recognise the destructiveness of their intentions”.
On Friday, Wicklow County Council had received more than 25 submissions on the project, one of them from the activist and environmental campaigner Peter Sweetman.
Mr Sweetman cited case law from the EU Court of Justice on the EU Habitats Directive, and advised Wicklow County Council on its legal obligations in regard to the protection of the habitats associated with Magheramore.
Magheramore was sold at a sealed bid auction in the mid 1990s by the Missionary Sisters of St Columban whose mother house remains nearby.
It was purchased by a two local entrepreneurs who are understood to have paid about €85,000 for the property.
However, efforts to convince Wicklow County Council to sanction development on the site were not successful. Even an attempt to charge day-trippers for parking on the headland drew considerable local opposition.
The businessmen later sold Magheramore on to property developer and charity founder Niall Mellon, for a price reportedly in the region of €120,000.
However, by 2021 the beach, clifftop, headland and access route were again offered for sale – this time, according to reports, by a Dublin couple, who had also failed to achieve development permission.
Environmentalists instigated a successful campaign to convince Wicklow County Council to bid for the beach, headland and clifftop and the council is understood to have bid more than €500,000 at auction.
However, it was knocked out by two private bidders who pushed the price up to some €700,000 – more than three times the asking price of €210,000.
It subsequently emerged the new owner was Creatively Pacific, when the planning lodged was lodged on April 3rd.
Speaking on condition of anonymity one of the former owners of Magheramore told The Irish Times that Wicklow County Council had been “implacably opposed to development of the site” and “it would be interesting to see what influence Creatively Pacific can bring to the table to convince planners that the site should be developed, when so many have failed.”
