I had reason to drive to Warrenpoint and along the coast to Newcastle yesterday and I noticed there were "No to National Park" signs up.
I presume this must be something to do with making the Mournes a National Park?
Why the objections, surely this would be good for tourism?
Seen something about the fact local landowners and farmers would lose control of the area so they are digging the heels in
National park status prioritizes environmental and wildlife issues over development. Many landowners don't like that.
I found the Mourne Working Party website and as suggested above here seems to be the main disadvantage:
Change in land values with development land increasing in cost and land not zoned for development reverting to agriculturally influenced prices.
All you need to know about it is here:
http://www.mourneworkingparty.org/index/working_part_presentation.htm