Two luxury five-star hotels - Adare Manor in Co Limerick and Ashford Castle in Co Mayo - are currently involved in planning battles over housing developments.
A plan by Tom Kane, the Irish-American owner of Adare Manor and managing general partner of developer Adare Partners, to build 287 housing units on the grounds of Adare Manor has caused local controversy.
Planning permission granted by Limerick County Council for the scheme has been appealed by a local residents group and the daughter of the former owner of Adare Manor.
Kane, an Irish-American businessman and former fighter pilot, reputedly bid for the manor over the phone in 1987 within 40 minutes of hearing it was on the market. He paid €2.5 million for the manor and 847 acres. The manor had previously belonged to the Earl of Dunraven.
Lady Ana Wyndham Quin, the daughter of the Earl and Countess of Dunraven, believes the development will be "the absolute ruination of Adare village at the hands of unimaginative planners (none of whom live in Adare) and of the five members of Adare Partners three of whom do not live in Ireland".
In her letter of appeal she urged An Bord Pleanála to "help to uphold the charm, style, fabric and vista of one of the most famously picturesque villages in Ireland".
The population of Adare in 1996 was 1,042 and is expected to rise to 3,000 by 2021. To meet housing demand, twice the amount of land needed to build houses for the increased population has been rezoned in the development plan.
Residents from the nearby Woodlands estate say that, although they recognise the benefits associated with a new housing estate to the long term future and vitality of Adare, the proposed development would add to traffic congestion in the village.
They believe there is "an aspect of social exclusion" in the layout of the scheme which divides the site into a small development of luxury villas and a large development of 276 houses with a two-metre high stone wall and a landscaped area separating them. The scheme is premature pending a new water main due for completion in 2007, according to the appeal, which contends the scale of the development is beyond local housing needs, and there is no provision for badly needed neighbourhood centres or educational facilities. "The tenor of the development is at odds with the heritage of Adare village."
Ashford Castle in Cong, Co Mayo has opposed a plan by Donal O'Connor of Donville Developments to build eight houses in woodland opposite the main gate-lodge near its entrance.
In an appeal to An Bord Pleanála, it says the grounds are clearly attendant to the castle, which is a protected structure and "should be preserved in their present state and character".
It says the decision to grant this housing estate must be seen as negative "for Ashford Castle, for Cong, for Mayo and for the whole island of Ireland... If granted, the development would create an unsuitable and unwelcome precedent," says the appeal.
In its submission to An Bord Pleanála, An Taisce says that Coillte, the Irish state Forestry Board, "has not demonstrated adequate legal entitlement" in disposing of the 1.3-hectare site.
It believes the site, formerly part of the Ashford Castle estate, was transferred rather than sold to the Irish government by the Guinness family "with the objective of maintaining the woodland amenity quality".
It says that even if legally appropriate, it questions whether the applicant is entitled to change the area from amenity to development use.
It said the development would have an adverse impact on Ashford Castle, which was extended and developed by the Guinness family in the mid and late 19th century. It is now owned by a consortium headed by businessman Tony O'Reilly.
Residents of nearby Gortaroe and Nympsfield said that, while they are not opposed in principle to a development on the site, in its current state it would be "detrimental" to Cong.
