NIPBY* row over God pods
*Not In Priest’s Back Yard
AN unholy war has broken out after a priest erected meditation pods beside his parochial house without planning permission.
Fr Malachy Conlon built the small huts – more popularly known as ‘God pods’ – in Carlingford, Co. Louth, without first applying to the local council for approval.
Now the ‘God pods’, designed to help people achieve personal peace, have become a focus of a tense stand-off between the priest and his nearest neighbours.
Fr Conlon was ultimately granted permission to retain the structures by Louth County Council but his neighbour Mark Travers has since appealed that decision to An Bord Pleanála.
Speaking to the Irish Mail on Sunday, Fr Conlon said the pods, which are not a commercial venture, were ‘a small community initiative which has received a very good response from the people using them’.
However, Mr Travers, who can see the pods from his property, said he is opposed to the pods on numerous grounds, including issues of privacy and also the potential to devalue his property. In addition, the pods are ‘incongruous’ within the rural landscape, he said.