A village haunted by an old grudge... and the spectre of Harry Smyth
And this is the view from the controversial site where a young couple hope to build their home
IT IS one of the most beautiful parts of the country. On Lough Corrib’s shore, with the mountains of Connemara behind it and Galway city a half-hour drive away, it’s not surprising that people choose to make Rosscahill their home.
But all is not well in the tranquil townland near Oughterard. For the past few years, locals trying to build in the area have been shot down by a mysterious objector who goes by the name of Harry Smyth.
However, nobody in the village knows who Harry Smyth is, if it’s a man or woman, or even if they live in Rosscahill.
An Bord Pleanála took the unprecedented step last week of holding an oral hearing into the latest planning application to which Mr or Mrs Smyth has objected after the address they provided in Galway city turned out to be bogus.
Still the identity of Smyth was unknown. The case became even more curious when a woman rang the planning board declaring herself to be Smyth but refusing to divulge any more details. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Harry Smyth didn’t turn up to the hearing,
Peig Halloran, who runs the eponymous village bar, says the objections have got locals wondering about one another.
‘I love this place, to me it is wonderful. But then you start thinking “maybe it’s not so wonderful at all.” Everything you do, somebody seems to be objecting, it’s not just the planning, it’s other things too.
‘You wonder “is it a blow-in or a local?” Do you know?’
The latest case to which Smyth has objected involved a young couple, Richard and Lisa Barrett, whose first child was born last month. They have been trying to get permission to build a house on the shore of Lough Corrib for almost two years. Harry Smyth has objected twice.
Richard Barrett, who was born and raised in the area and works in the engineering department at Galway University, describes his situation as ‘a nightmare’.
‘It is a stressful situation not knowing if we are going to be able to build in the community that we grew up in. The stress is unbelievable and the financial cost of this is significant.
‘We have been brought through the wringer on this. It mystifies us as to who Harry Smyth is. I have never heard of Harry Smyth. We can’t believe what is going on.’
The couple are renting an apartment currently and say they face eviction in February because their landlord is selling.
After Smyth’s initial objections to their planning application, they modified their plans. However, he/ she objected a second time.
The application is for a house and garage of almost 2,600 square feet. Harry Smyth claims the house is an ‘undesirable precedent for similar future development in the area and should be refused’.
Noel Thomas, a councillor in the nearby town of Moycullen, says the Barretts’ situation is a ‘bad, but familiar one’.
‘I don’t know the ins and outs of this particular case, but we see this happening all the time. Once a planning application is in an area of special conservation, you get objectors from all over – many who have never set foot in the area.’
However, a person close to the case says that he has a ‘very good idea’ who Harry Smyth is.
‘It’s a local. In fact it’s two locals. They have objected to cases before; once three years ago under the name of J Smyth and then 10 years before, there was another objection from H Smyth. It’s the same people.
‘Old habits die hard and local grudges can go on for years, sometimes generations.
‘It’s stopping young people living in their own village, and God knows the village needs people coming in, to keep the services going, the school and the pub and everything else.’
An Bord Pleanála took the highly unusual step of holding an oral hearing in the nearby town of Oughterard last week to establish the identity of Harry Smyth.
Smyth was a no-show and sent a Dublin-based planning consultant, Brendan Buck, to represent them.
Paul Caprani, inspector with An Bord Pleanála, told the hearing he didn’t know if Smyth is a man or a woman.
‘The validity of the appeal by Harry Smyth is under question, and I want to know why Harry Smyth is not here with a copy of [their] passport, driver’s licence with the name Harry Smyth on it, and proof that he or she lives at the address given.
‘Why the appellant is not here today with those details is beyond me,’ he said.
Mr Caprani told the hearing that Smyth had given two different addresses at Whitestrand Park in Salthill, Galway. However, Harry Smyth lived at neither.
One of the elderly residents, Ann Folan, gave a sworn affidavit that she had collected mail for Smyth and passed them to ‘a person who knew him’.
But the resident of the other address said she did not know Smyth and was ‘horrified to have been drawn into this mess’.
‘I never heard of this man and I never took a letter for him – the whole thing is just terrible,’ Mary Wallace told the Irish Mail on Sunday.
A source said it appeared Smyth had been using an address in Galway as an alias and the system had worked for a while. ‘Post had been passed on to him or her from there,’ he said. ‘However when a registered letter was inadvertently returned to An Bord Pleanála from the address, planning officials became suspicious.’
The Barretts’ solicitor Des Fitzgerald says the case highlights the fact that appeals made to An Bord Pleanála should not be accepted unless people can prove their identity and place of residence. ‘That is the very least you’d hope for.’
Meanwhile, in her atmospheric old pub near the site of the planned house, Peig Halloran says the matter has left a bad taste.
‘Sometimes I bring it up in the pub, but people don’t want to talk about it really.
‘No one likes to think that their neighbours aren’t nice.’
‘Maybe it’s not so wonderful at all’ ‘The situation is a bad but familiar one’