The Department of the Environment has been refused permission to open a sweet shop in Killarney National Park, although it can build a concrete dungstead less than half-a-mile from historic Muckross House, planners have ruled.

While An Bord Pleanala refused permission for confectionery to be sold near Torc waterfall because it could lead to littering, planners at Kerry county council have given the department the go-ahead to build a concrete dung container.

The department is planning to build the structure about 70 metres from Lough Leane. Vistors can take tours of the lake on board a glass-bottomed boat throughout the year.

Jarveys, the drivers of horse-drawn carriages through the park, have been mounting a protest outside the park gates since October over the department’s insistence that they fit their horses with “dung catchers”. It is proposed that manure from the “nappies” will be disposed of in skips around the park and transferred to the dungstead, then later spread on farmland outside the park.

The jarveys claim that the devices are unsafe. They have called on the government to provide them with a compensation deal to allow them to get out of the business. Two gardai have been assigned to police the picket at the gates of Muckross House after claims that tourists were being prevented from entering the park.

An Bord Pleanala has ruled that opening a shop at a disused information centre could lead to littering and “a greater level of disturbance” beside the waterfall. An inspector appointed by the appeals board ruled that “the commercial nature of the proposed use would be discordant” with its location.

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