This article is from page 10 of the 2005-09-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
this week, ““What could we do? We had to do this. We are very sad and the people of Ballyvaughan are very sad at what has happened.”
The two built the restaurant without planning permission and over the past 20 months tried to stave off a District Court ruling of December 2003, affirming a Clare County Council order to demolish their premises.
Sibylle said this week, “We never ex-
pected the restaurant to be such a suc- cess. It has been quite an experience. We don’t know what impact the closure will have on Ballyvaughan.”
The Holywell restaurant will relocate to the old Market building in Ennisty- mon and will be ready to open in late No- vember or early December. The workers laid off will have the option of working in the new venture.
Councillor Martin Lafferty (Ind) ex- pressed regret this week that a compro- mise could not be reached between the council and the Dietls in ensuring that the restaurant would remain open at Bal- lyvaughan.
“The restaurant will be a loss to Bal- lyvaughan, as the likes of B&B owners have told me that the restaurant was a tre- mendous asset to the place. What is Bal- lyvaughan’s loss is Ennistymon’s gain.
“IT can’t understand how they could
have spent so much money on something they didn’t have permission for.”
An Bord Pleandala has turned down two planning retention applications for the restaurant. Permission was initially se- cured from Clare County Council, only for a competitor to appeal the decision.
The couple borrowed €1.5 million to finance their Ballyvaughan venture. Their plans to transform it into a lan- guage centre were turned down by the County Council. They have appealed that decision to An Bord Pleanala.
The appeal against the district court decision was adjourned to the October sittings of Kilrush Circuit Court.
At the last hearing in June, the Dietls’ counsel Des Longe BL told Judge Carroll Moran, “The Dietls accept that this 1s the end of the road for operating a restaurant at this location and they intend to comply with the court.”