Plans to construct a new 40-space car park at Co. Limerick's Adare Manor have been put on hold following an appeal by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to An Bord Pleanála.
Limerick County Council granted permission for the development of the car park last month, however, the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has objected, saying that the location proposed for the car park is in an area that could contain remains of medieval defences.
The Irish Independent quotes the department as saying, "The town wall may cross through the proposed development site and may be directed impacted by the proposed development."
Archaeological Investigations
The department stated that the decision to grant permission for the car park's construction cannot be considered sustainable unless it can be demonstrated that the town's archaeological heritage will not be negatively affected. This would require confirmation of the town wall's location via archaeological investigations.
In its appeal to An Bord Pleanála, the department pointed out that it did not receive notification of the plans and therefore did not have a chance to make a submission to the council.
An archaeological assessment lodged with the car park plans by Adare hotel company Tizzard Holdings concluded that it is unlikely that the car park would cause a direct adverse impact to any identified archaeological monuments. However, it said that there is a possibility that previously undocumented subsurface archaeological features could exist within the boundary of the proposed site for the development since it is situated 15 metres from the town defences.
When it granted permission for the development, Limerick County Council presented a number of conditions meant to protect the site's heritage, including a ruling that if an archaeological survey should discover artefacts prior to the commencement of the car park's construction, an expert could halt the project pending a decision on how best to deal with the remains.
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