A row has erupted in Co Kerry over the naming of a Kerry County Council housing scheme as The Healy-Rae Park.
The six-house scheme for the elderly in the village of Kilgarvan is to be jointly opened this afternoon by the Mayor of Kerry, Cllr Michael Healy-Rae, and his father, the independent deputy Mr Jackie Healy-Rae.
The development is alongside Cllr Healy-Rae's grocery shop and petrol station in Kilgarvan. It is not clear which Healy-Rae the scheme is intended to honour. Informed locals say it is most likely both.
However, not everybody is happy about this.
The naming of the scheme did not come before an area meeting of the county council, or any meeting of Kerry County Council, said Cllr Brendan Cronin (Ind).
He said such decisions with regard to Kerry County Council property should be made openly, and with the knowledge of other councillors. The first he and other councillors knew about it was on Tuesday when they received an official Kerry County Council invitation to the opening.
"They can put up statues in Kilgarvan to the Healy-Raes for all I care. But there are too many back-room decisions being made, and there should be proper procedures."
Cllr Sean Counihan (Labour) said when Killarney Town Council initiated place-naming procedures in honour of two dead councillors just months ago, officials from Kerry County Council informed the council the matter would have to go before an area meeting of Kerry County Council.
"How come there is not a procedure now with naming a housing estate when there was for us? These are sensitive issues. There has to be a procedure in place."
Mr Michael Healy-Rae dismissed many of the criticisms as "absolute sheer begrudgery and narrow-mindedness".
There had been a number of new housing estates recently and there had been no discussion at meetings about their names.
Kerry County Council officials say there was no procedure for naming local authority housing estates. Mr Sean McCarthy, housing liaison officer, said the tenants had decided upon the name at a pre-tenancy meeting and this was normal practice.
He had looked for suggestions from the tenants and The Healy-Rae Park was put forward. His and the council's suggestion of Mountain View was not taken up by the tenants.