An Taisce objects to Book of Kells murals at vacant shop unit

Plans for large murals depicting pages from the Book of Kells at a vacant premises in Market Street have been stalled because of an appeal by An Taisce against planning permission for the project. Anger that the project, which was aimed at improving the appearance of the town and attracting tourists, has now gone on hold for at least six months was expressed at Monday night's meeting of Kells Town Council, where Cllr Sean Drew accused An Taisce of "continually kicking this town". Kells Chamber of Commerce had plans to fix removable panels on the facade of the empty Centra shop in Market Street as part of an arts trail to be developed around the town. Chamber president, Geraldine Gaughran, said: "Of course, we would always want to see the building used, but in the meantime, we thought this would revitalise the street, make it into a bit of an attraction and get people into the area." She said that the Chamber, like An Taisce, would always want to see the buildings around the town used, but at the moment is was hard to find a use for buildings like this one, as people don't have the money to spend on them. "The panels were designed so that they could be removed, if the premises was sold in six months' time, and moved somewhere else," she said. At a meeting of the town council on Monday night, Cllr Drew hit out at An Taisce and said the organisation was continually kicking the town. "The Chamber just wanted to do something to improve the area. It would have been a temporary structure. Now the tourist season will be over before anything can be done," he said. Cllr Drew said he blamed An Taisce for a lot of the derelict sites in the town. "Some lovely developments could have been carried out in Kells, but they didn't go ahead because of An Taisce," he said. An Taisce appealed the decision, saying that the proposal was not an appropriate treatment of a protected structure in an Architectural Conservation Area and the use imagery from the Book of Kells in what amounts to the temporary hoarding was not an appropriate use of Ireland's premier national cultural heritage artefact. The appeal states the building is a protected structure comprising of a late 18th century townhouse with original pillared door at ground floor level. According to An Taisce the current commercial vitality of the centre of Kells is a matter of serious concern and the town and county council's failures to comply with retail planning guidelines undermined the commercial core of the town centre. The appeal adds the prime response to any building vacancy should be to find a temporary new use, and accepting that a lower rent or use by a voluntary/community organisation would be preferable to leaving a building vacant. An Taisce believes the use of Book of Kells imagery requires care and sensitivity. "This is not a well-considered proposal but would demean and devalue the Book of Kells imagery presenting the ill-considered hoarding of an empty building rather than an alternative use as part of an 'art trail'. It is not either an appropriate use of the Book of Kells imagery or an appropriate means of reversing urban decline," the organisation added.