*The Cliffs of Moher coastal walk.
A CLARE TD has proposed an annual benefit fund as part of the solution for the reopening of the Cliffs of Moher coastal walk while an MEP has said the approach of Clare County Council is to “clobber” landowners.
Clare MEP, Michael McNamara has taken aim at Clare County Council prior to the release of the Tobin Report, the draft of which has recommended the local authority take full ownership and responsibility for the future management of the scenic coastal walk. “Clare County Council commissioning consultants to recommend it use compulsory purchase orders against local landowners rather than engaging with them is, unfortunately, typical of the approach regularly adopted by the Council”.
Recommendations that the Council “should have full title of the lands by outright purchase” through long-term leases or CPOs according to McNamara “will now be used to clobber those landowners, which one might reasonably suspect was the purpose for which it was commissioned”.
He stated, “The problems with the Cliffs of Moher Walking Trail are years in the making with the Council, which made big profits through a private company, adopting a high handed approach and refusing to fairly share revenues with landowners whose private property was being used to generate that profit”.
There is “an obvious conflict of interest”, McNamara maintained while pointing to the route of the walking trail which includes the Council-owned Cliffs of Moher Experience. He said the recommendation for the Council to assume ownership rather than Clare Local Development Company “is highly significant given CLDC’s efforts over recent years to broker a deal between the landowners and Clare County Council which, I understand, were focussed on delivering a fairer share of revenues generated to local landowners through whose land the walking trail passes”.
Scariff native Michael added, “As Ireland’s most used walking route by far, the Cliffs of Moher Walking Trail is of great importance not just to the landowners but also the border communities in Doolin and Liscannor. To serve their interests, Clare County Council needs to take a very different approach and to drop the implicit threats and talk to, not at, those involved”.
Creating an annual benefit fund has been suggested as the solution to reopening the walk by Joe Cooney TD (FG). He explained that this would be supported through a financial contribution based on the per head entry to the Cliffs of Moher Experience. In a written submission prior to the Tobin’s Report publication, he said such a fund would support social, economic and environmental projects within the community and would expedite the opening of the popular attraction.
He said, “It could be administered by an independent group, possibly made up of Council staff, elected representatives, and local community members. To acknowledge the importance of the coastal pathway a significant percentage of that fund could be ring-fenced for the landowners involved. For example, if the fund was based on €1 per head per annum it would deliver roughly €1.6M for distribution, if 30% was set aside for the landowners at the coastal path, it would create a significant fund to be divided annually between the 36 landowners, leaving the balance to be distributed for other community projects across the wider Ennistymon Local Electoral Area and to support other sustainable tourism networks across the county.”
Mention of a CPO in a leaked report was “regrettable” due to the “adversarial and divisive nature of such a process”.
Deputy Cooney has also proposed that control of the amenity and its strategic development and management should rest within the main local authority governance structure rather than within a Designated Activity Company (DAC).
Risks identified by Sport Ireland to close the walk last August were “obviously legitimate,” he said. “These risks are an indictment of the fragmented approach to ownership, management and maintenance of the coastal trail. The current model is clearly inappropriate when it comes to providing a safe trail, which has long term negative impacts on the ability for visitors to make plans and, therefore, impacts local businesses that depend upon the trail and face serious financial consequences”.
On the prospect of Clare County Council having full operational control of the walk, the TD stated, “On the face of it this is a logical recommendation, and the justifications for it are hard to dispute: safety, protection of the public and landowners, access for emergency and maintenance vehicles, management of sensitive environmental areas and species. However, like all of these types of reports, the devil will be in the implementation detail”. He said he preferred a long-term lease agreement with landowners. Ownership of the trail needs “much more discussion and clarity,” he said.
