Bord Pleanála has overturned planning permission for a housing development on what has been described as "one of the country's most important breeding grounds for the corncrake", south of Athlone .
The waterside site known as the Big Meadow is about a half a mile downriver from the Shannon bridge in the centre of the town. Both banks of the Shannon as it passes through Athlone have seen considerable amounts of development over recent years, both commercial and residential.
What was envisaged for the Big Meadow site was a development of 57 town houses and 32 apartments. Apartments with two bedrooms on waterside sites in the town have in the past commanded prices of about €220,000 (£175,000), comparable with apartment prices in Dublin and London and more expensive than many parts of Paris.
Planning permission was granted for the development by Westmeath County Council last year but was appealed by Birdwatch Ireland.
Speaking on the RTÉ news programme Six One News yesterday, Ms Catherine Casey of Birdwatch welcomed the decision. Ms Casey said the site was an important one internationally and four sightings of the corncrake had been recorded there in 2000.
It was time, she said, that the State faced up to its obligations within Europe and the wider world to the protection of birds such as the corncrake.
However, a local councillor, Mr John Butler, also speaking on Six One said there had been just one sighting of the corncrake on the site last year and he suggested the bird wouldn't lay in what he described as "a derelict site" as it would not be safe for it to do so.
