Councillors allow change of house use to mosque

City councillors have paved the way for a house on the outskirts of the city to be used as a Muslim place of worship and congregation, despite strong objections from the Council executive and local residents.

Members voted 11 in favour, and seven against, a material contravention to the City Development Plan in which the Council would consider the use of the dwelling house on agricultural land at Mincloon.

There were 17 submissions made since this amendment to the draft plan went on public display in the autumn – all against the change, on the grounds of the area being an inappropriate location for a place of worship, and would lead to increased traffic congestion.

In July, when the matter first came before councillors, they were told that a decision in favour of the proposal would put the planning process head over heels.

Director of Services, Joe O’Neill, warned that it was “effectively saying the use of the property is to be changed.”

Executive planner, Diane Egan, explained to members that the Muslim community had been granted ‘retention of alteration’ in 2010, with restrictions on how the house was to be used.

“It was to protect the residential amenity of that area,” she said.

Galway City Council’s Chief Executive, Brendan McGrath, added: “Condition 2 of this permission stipulates that … the dwelling shall not be used as a place for public assembly, a public hall, place of worship, bed and breakfast, or for any commercial purposes, other than use as a single private dwelling house.

“It wouldn’t be granted if they applied for planning permission,” he told members.

However, a majority of Councillors were inclined to disagree with his recommendation, as was the case when it came back before them last week.

Cllr Cathal Ó Concuir proposed that the alteration be accepted, which was seconded by Cllr Niall McNeilis – the latter said it would be a parish house, in keeping with this being a multicultural city.

On the other hand, Cllr Colette Connolly, supported by Cllr Michael Crowe, proposed the CEO’s recommendations that there be no change.

And so began a very heated debate, fuelled by Cllr Pearce Flannery’s suggestion that the members supporting this were only doing so because they got a free dinner from the applicants.

Cllr Peter Keane described this as “the most appalling thing I’ve heard in entire duration of this Plan.” Cllr Flannery was asked to withdraw his remark, but he refused.

Cllr Frank Fahy, who had received a text message prior to the vote saying “I trust that Galway is a fair city,” said that a vote in favour of this alteration was the right decision for the 3,000 Muslims living here. Furthermore, he said, business and sports clubs had been operating from the area for many years, and the roads had been able to accommodate this usage.

Cllr John Walsh, voting with the submission, said that any issues with the traffic and infrastructure was not the applicant’s problem, but the Council’s or the NRA’s.

Cllr Terry O’Flaherty said that the larger gatherings would be in Westside, and not in Mincloon, so she was supporting the applicant’s submission.

However, Cllr Michael Crowe said that a vote against the applicants should not be seen as being anti-Muslim.

“I’m against it, not because of any religious reason or another, and if Bishop Eamon Casey came through the door wanting to do the same for the Catholic religion, I’d say the same,” he said.

“I get the impression that there may be some offence caused by voting one way or another. But the Mosque in Ballybrit is a purpose-built facility, it met all the requirements. Here, they are looking to change a house into a church, and it simply isn’t suitable.”

Senior planner, Caroline Phelan, agreed that this was a zoning issue, rather than an assessment of something being good or bad.

“The City Council has spent a lot of resources pursuing unauthorised developments,” she said.

“We highlighted all along that they shouldn’t invest money in something that is prohibited. This unauthorised development has been pursued since 2012 … four years of resources have been invested into something that is prohibited. Some of the inspections on this property were done up to midnight. There is a mosque on residential lands in the city.”

The members who voted in favour of the submission were: Billy Cameron, Cathal Ó Conchuir, Padraig Conneely, Mairead Farrell, Peter Keane, Noel Larkin, Declan McDonnell, Niall McNeilis, Terry O’Flaherty, John Walsh, and Mark Lohan.

Against were: Colette Connolly, Michael Crowe, Ollie Crowe, Mike Cubbard, Frank Fahy, Pearce Flannery, and Donal Lyons.

After the vote, Cllr Colette Connolly, said that the decision defied logic.

“It beggars belief, given that the dwelling was granted planning permission, with specific planning conditions attached that expressly forbade the use of the dwelling as a place of worship,” she said.

“This was because of its location in G zoning where all development is restricted to that pertaining to agriculture. The dwelling in Tonabrucky borders onto a very narrow road in close proximity to a junction, where a number of accidents have occurred, according to residents of the area.

She described the rezoning in the City Development Plan to insert the specific objective of a mosque as “a circumvention of the planning laws” and a misuse of the CDP planning process.

“It undermines the Planning Department of Galway City Council, who have effectively now wasted scarce staff resources and taxpayers’ money, thanks to the decision of some councillors, in pursuing enforcement action over the past four years in order to achieve compliance with the original grant of planning permission,” she added.

“I deplore the fact that councillors are portrayed as pro or anti-Muslims, when in fact the issue is simply one of planning.”

She rejected any assertion that she was not for a ‘fair and tolerant Galway’.