A Kenmare MD councillor has appealed to people living outside the area to 'mind their own business' by not objecting to plans for a long-derelict hotel.
Councillor Johnny Healy-Rae says plans to renovate the former Rinn Rua Hotel in Ballinskelligs could be as important for the Iveragh peninsula as the greenway.
He says objecting to the hotel if it meets 'all the guidelines' would be 'a most awful nail in South Kerry'.
Planning permission is being sought to provide a new tourism facility at the former South Kerry hotel.
The project includes the renovation of the building itself, and the development of the lands around it, overlooking Reenroe Beach.
The former hotel was built in the late 1960s, but has been derelict for over 30 years, and previous attempts to renovate it were unsuccessful.
The site was bought by the Breen family in 2015, and Rinn Rua Holiday Park Ltd has since unveiled plans to transform the property.
The planned development would expand the hotel building, provide holiday lodges, mobile homes, touring caravan pitches, hobbit huts and glamping pods on the surrounding lands.
It would also have a swimming pool and leisure centre, as well as water sports facilities, a surf shop, bar, restaurant, shop and beach café.
The business says this would provide a variety of new jobs locally, and particularly aim at attracting all year-round family stay-cations.
