3 July 1997 Edition
Holiday home truths
Robert Allen considers the long-term impact of holiday homes on a small community in West Clare
Kilkee is a small seaside resort with a sandy beach at the end of a horseshoe-shaped inlet on the west Clare coast. Once part of a thriving coastal community at the end of the west Clare railway line, a few miles down the road from the small port of Kilrush, this inoffensive town has for many decades been the holiday home of many Limerick city people. Caravan parks punctuate the landscape. Holiday homes are abundant. There are 36 pubs. The railway was closed in 1961 but this hasn't deterred the holiday makers.
Kilkee is not untypical of seaside resorts in the west of Ireland which is enjoying what the economists call a ``boom time''. In capitalist society the sight of new development amidst the hustle and bustle of tourists is a sign of economic prosperity. For the majority it is an illusion.
Kilkee's indigenous population is divided at the moment. The issue is the development of nearly 100 holiday homes on the south-eastern edge of town. The site was once prime argicultural land, with a fairyfort at the northern end. About 15 years ago it fell into the hands of two brothers who persuaded the council to rezone some of the land for development. But the brothers subsequently sold the land to a Limerick accountant who died before he could put his development plans into action. Eventually the land found its way into the hands of a Dublin developer. In May the first phase of holiday homes was started in an area which is known locally as Castlefields. The second phase will only begin if the developer can persuade the council to rezone the rest of the site.
The arguments against the development are multifarious and complex. Some sound good from an ecological perspective, others appear selfish and elitist, few consider the social dimension. Kilkee, as with most seaside resorts along the western seaboard, is inhabited essentially only by those who can still farm the land around the town, those who run the businesses, plus the old and the young. Heavy emigration of school leavers is a fact of life. What little work there is to be found is largely seasonal. Anything that changes that is seen as good for Kilkee people, particularly the young.
Those who support development in Kilkee are, not surprisingly, the propertied classes who see the building of self-catering holiday homes as a good thing - a means of attracting a better class of people to the town. While the caravan parks attract middle class families from Limerick and other parts of Clare, they also bring in Limerick city people who are on the dole and have little spending power. Holiday homes, in contrast, attract people with money that can be spent in the pubs, cafes, restaurants and shops. The building work itself is also good for Kilkee. The 12 month contract for the first phase of houses will result in work for five months for at least 40 people, of which 15 are local, and around half that for the other seven months. The majority are skilled although there is work for five unskilled people. The skilled workers will bring home at least £300 a week, the unskilled workers around £200. The recent spate of development in Kilkee has kept some young people in the town, by not only providing them with work but the chance to learn a trade. One builder has given out three apprenticeships over the past few years and one of his apprentices even returned from the USA because the rate of pay was better in Kilkee.
In the short term all this development is a good thing, for it brings seasonal wealth to the town, and creates all year employment for skilled workers who would otherwise be on the dole or on the lookout for work outside Kilkee. Eventually it will enable some families to send their children to third level education and may even keep some of them in Kilkee as successors to the family businesses.
But such developments have much harsher, long term effect. None of the builders in Kilkee have had the resources or means to take advantage of the tax incentives under the Seaside Resort Legislation to plan the developments themselves. Although building tenders and some of the work goes to local people, the profits go to the developer who is able to recoup their capital investment swiftly. Houses in the first phase of the Castlefields development sold for £80,000 each - taking the big money out of the town and with it the legacy of inflated values for prime development land. In May one site on the northern side of town sold for £50,000. Ten years ago a site in Kilkee would have cost £10,000, it is now £30,000. Even sites over a mile outside the town are going for between £15,000 and £18,000 compared with £3,000 ten years ago.
So even if the sons and daughters of the propertied classes do decide to stay in Kilkee they will have to pay a heavy price, for who knows what the cost of a prime site will be in another ten years time? And what of those families who provide the workers for the businesses of the town? Wages in seasonal work, in the catering trade and small shops are poor. Few would earn more than £5 an hour and most would get about £3 an hour.
The true social effects of this development won't be felt for many years to come and by then it may well be too late to do anything about the consequences.
Kilkee is a small seaside resort with a sandy beach at the end of a horseshoe-shaped inlet on the west Clare coast. Once part of a thriving coastal community at the end of the west Clare railway line, a few miles down the road from the small port of Kilrush, this inoffensive town has for many decades been the holiday home of many Limerick city people. Caravan parks punctuate the landscape. Holiday homes are abundant. There are 36 pubs. The railway was closed in 1961 but this hasn't deterred the holiday makers.
Kilkee is not untypical of seaside resorts in the west of Ireland which is enjoying what the economists call a ``boom time''. In capitalist society the sight of new development amidst the hustle and bustle of tourists is a sign of economic prosperity. For the majority it is an illusion.
Kilkee's indigenous population is divided at the moment. The issue is the development of nearly 100 holiday homes on the south-eastern edge of town. The site was once prime argicultural land, with a fairyfort at the northern end. About 15 years ago it fell into the hands of two brothers who persuaded the council to rezone some of the land for development. But the brothers subsequently sold the land to a Limerick accountant who died before he could put his development plans into action. Eventually the land found its way into the hands of a Dublin developer. In May the first phase of holiday homes was started in an area which is known locally as Castlefields. The second phase will only begin if the developer can persuade the council to rezone the rest of the site.
The arguments against the development are multifarious and complex. Some sound good from an ecological perspective, others appear selfish and elitist, few consider the social dimension. Kilkee, as with most seaside resorts along the western seaboard, is inhabited essentially only by those who can still farm the land around the town, those who run the businesses, plus the old and the young. Heavy emigration of school leavers is a fact of life. What little work there is to be found is largely seasonal. Anything that changes that is seen as good for Kilkee people, particularly the young.
Those who support development in Kilkee are, not surprisingly, the propertied classes who see the building of self-catering holiday homes as a good thing - a means of attracting a better class of people to the town. While the caravan parks attract middle class families from Limerick and other parts of Clare, they also bring in Limerick city people who are on the dole and have little spending power. Holiday homes, in contrast, attract people with money that can be spent in the pubs, cafes, restaurants and shops. The building work itself is also good for Kilkee. The 12 month contract for the first phase of houses will result in work for five months for at least 40 people, of which 15 are local, and around half that for the other seven months. The majority are skilled although there is work for five unskilled people. The skilled workers will bring home at least £300 a week, the unskilled workers around £200. The recent spate of development in Kilkee has kept some young people in the town, by not only providing them with work but the chance to learn a trade. One builder has given out three apprenticeships over the past few years and one of his apprentices even returned from the USA because the rate of pay was better in Kilkee.
In the short term all this development is a good thing, for it brings seasonal wealth to the town, and creates all year employment for skilled workers who would otherwise be on the dole or on the lookout for work outside Kilkee. Eventually it will enable some families to send their children to third level education and may even keep some of them in Kilkee as successors to the family businesses.
But such developments have much harsher, long term effect. None of the builders in Kilkee have had the resources or means to take advantage of the tax incentives under the Seaside Resort Legislation to plan the developments themselves. Although building tenders and some of the work goes to local people, the profits go to the developer who is able to recoup their capital investment swiftly. Houses in the first phase of the Castlefields development sold for £80,000 each - taking the big money out of the town and with it the legacy of inflated values for prime development land. In May one site on the northern side of town sold for £50,000. Ten years ago a site in Kilkee would have cost £10,000, it is now £30,000. Even sites over a mile outside the town are going for between £15,000 and £18,000 compared with £3,000 ten years ago.
So even if the sons and daughters of the propertied classes do decide to stay in Kilkee they will have to pay a heavy price, for who knows what the cost of a prime site will be in another ten years time? And what of those families who provide the workers for the businesses of the town? Wages in seasonal work, in the catering trade and small shops are poor. Few would earn more than £5 an hour and most would get about £3 an hour.
The true social effects of this development won't be felt for many years to come and by then it may well be too late to do anything about the consequences.