The community of Ballyheigue, Kerry, fear a new telecommunications mast near Our Lady’s well and grotto will take away from its spiritual look.
The Ballyheigue holy well attracts upwards of 5,000 people for the annual Pattern Festival held in September.
Ballyheigue local Brendan Moriarty said that the move “doesn’t make sense” and says the community have voiced their opposition to it.
“The grotto is a very secluded area where people stop for prayer,” he said. “People come on a regular basis and they come even more as churches are inaccessible at the moment. If you have a big mast overlooking it, it will take from the spiritual look of the whole place.”
Mr Moriarty said locals only heard about the planning permission through word-of-mouth before joining together in opposition.
“We don’t have an objection to improving the services for telecommunications,” he said. “Our concern is that it shouldn’t be where it’s going at the moment, there are other sites.”