*The Cliffs of Moher.
CLARE COUNTY COUNCIL’s €8m land deal by the Cliffs of Moher is to come under scrutiny from elected members who themselves are bearing the brunt of public criticism on the matter.
Elected members are understood to be feeling the heat with the public aghast at the Council’s decision to spend €8m on two plots of land adjacent to The Cliffs of Moher. The total area of the two sites is understood to be close to 55 acres meaning the local authority paid almost €147,000 per acre for the land. The Council also agreed to pay the vendors costs which exceeded €200,000.
Two motions related to the land deal are to come before Monday’s meeting of the Council.
Following an external audit into the Council’s affairs of 2023 released last month, elected members including Cllr Shane Talty (FF) and Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) told The Clare Echo they were aware the acquisition of the land was a strategic target but that they had no knowledge on the costs involved.
Personnel within the local authority have disputed the view that councillors were not informed on the goings-on.
One North Clare farmer told The Clare Echo this week, “the dogs on the street knew about this deal in October and November, the councillors may not have been officially told but Shane Talty and Joe Garrihy would have heard about the deal, they are trying to save face”.
Director of the Cliffs of Moher Experience, Geraldine O’Rourke when asked by The Clare Echo if she was aware of the costs associated with the deal, said, “The Cliffs of Moher has a strategy which looks forward to 2040 which sets out a masterplan for the future development of the site, it is a Clare County Council plan which was partly funded by Fáilte Ireland, it was Clare County Council that purchased those lands here locally adjacent to the visitor centre, in front of the visitor centre and up behind the visitor centre. I’m aware of the masterplan and that these are key strategic sites but they were purchased by Clare County Council”.
Plans to acquire the land were visible in the Cliffs of Moher Strategy, she noted. “The masterplan is publicly available, it sets out a whole new scheme for the Cliffs of Moher, there’s additional walks, additional viewing points, unseen viewing points to the Cliffs of Moher, they are strategic in nature and will add huge value to the overall visitor experience here on site. People are looking for more to see, they are looking for more to do, they want to walk in nature, having these key strategic sites allows more walks to be developed and more viewing points around the Cliffs of Moher Experience site”.
She added, “We were aware that negotiations were going on, we were aware that the plan ultimately because this was set out in a masterplan was to acquire lands”.
In a joint motion to go before the May meeting of the Council, Cllr Talty, Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG), Cllr Pat Hayes (FF), Cllr Pat Burke (FG), Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF), Cllr Paul Murphy (FG), Cllr John Crowe (FG), Cllr Mary Howard (FG) and Cllr Rita McInerney (FF) are requesting the Chief Executive to outline the statutory basis, governance procedure and rationale behind the €8m deal and how it has been funded.
They are also seeking a commitment for future strategic land and property purchases along with a breakdown lands and property purchased in 2024.
Notably two North Clare representatives, Cllr Joe Killeen (FF) and Cllr Bill Slattery (FG) have not put their names to this proposal.
Cllr Garrihy in a separate motion is seeking clarity on the status of the Cliffs of Moher 2040 strategy “in the context of it never being brought before elected members for approval”.
