One of the country's most prestigious golf resorts has been warned it could face a potential €12.7m fine for carrying out an allegedly unauthorised development on the River Liffey.
Kildare County Council wrote to the K Club on April 2 to sayit had been made aware that an unauthorised development may have been carried out through the replacement of a hydroelectric generator system andother associated works at the resort’s intersection with the Liffey.
“The planning authority’s investigation to date indicates that the development as detailed... would appear to be unauthorised,” the local authority’s letter said.
It invited the K Club to make written submissions onthe matter within four weeks of the letter being sent. It saidan enforcement notice regarding the alleged unauthorised development may be issued.
Should the unauthorised development be confirmed, or should the notice party fail to comply with any enforcement notice that might be issued, the notice party would be liable for either a fine or term of imprisonment, or both, Kildare County Council said.
The possible penalties involved range from a €5,000 fine and six months imprisonment upon summary conviction in the District Court, up to a penalty of €12.7m and two years imprisonment should the notice party be indicted in a higher court, the local authority said.
The warning letter noted how the onus is on the developer to prove that a development is exempt from requiring planning permission.
The complaint of unauthorised development in question was first made by waterways body Inland Fisheries Ireland to Kildare County Council last August, before being added to by local anglers’ clubs earlier this year.
That second complaint made reference to an “unauthorised hydropower scheme on Straffan weir” constructed without planning permission, adding that as a result of the installation “the main flow of the River Liffey has been redirected over the weir through turbines for the purpose of electricity generation”, which threatens to destroy all salmon smolts migrating downstream during the months of March, April and May”.
Following previous reporting by the Irish Examiner on the matter,Kildare County Council said it did “not deem this to be a planning enforcement issue”. The warning letter to the K Club was, however, sent five days after that statement was issued.
Asked what had prompted this U-turn, a spokesperson for the local authority said it “cannot make any comments” regarding the matter “so as not to prejudice any potential future legal actions”.
The K Club did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for Inland Fisheries Ireland, meanwhile, said it welcomes “any additional information and engagement that addresses issues raised by IFI in regard to this project”. It said:
We believe important considerations should have been taken into account in relation to potential threats to fish, and their passage on the river.
A company known as Eco Hydro was retained by the K Club last year to “restore and improve” the facility’s existing hydroelectric generator, which uses the flow of the adjacent River Liffey to provide power to the club.
The company’s principal, Westmeath-born Robert Quirke, has been in dispute with the HSE over €10.3m worth of unused covid ventilators from China for just under five years, after just 72 of the 328 ventilators ordered were received.
Those devices subsequently failed to pass the quality standards required for clinical deployment and were never used.
Last Christmas, the K Club officially launched its refurbished hydroelectric generator. The new generator was expected at the time to cover about 70% of the five-star hotel’s electrical needs.
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