Greater promotion of local food suppliers needs to be implemented at the county’s leading tourist attraction, one Clare councillor has said.

Emphasis should be put on supporting local produce at the Cliffs of Moher, Cllr Roisin Garvey (GP) declared at the June meeting of the West Clare Municipal District. “The Cliffs of Moher are selling cookies from Australia and milk from England, that is not right”.

“With the amount of people coming through the Cliffs, you would like to see their money going back to local suppliers,” the Inagh native stated.

She claimed that Celtic Crosses were being put on tags from overseas products in an attempt to give an authentic look, “You’d swear it was from Ireland but it came from Germany or China”. Cllr Garvey also urged the County Council to recognise the benefits of farmers markets, “it creates local employment and is very good for social networking”.

Shannon Heritage’s owned Cliffs of Moher shop stock hand-made porcelain and clay sculptures by Doolin based, Creative Wave. Handcrafted stained glass wooden plaques made by Spancil Hill’s Siobhán Fawl are also available with paintings from Alannah McMahon of Liscannor. Lahinch painter, Phillip Morrison has a range of espresso cups and saucer sets in store with producers like Wilde Irish Chocolates located in Tuamgraney, Clare Jams from Doolin and Spanish Point Sea Vegetables supported.

Ten months ago, Dublin catering providers, Brambles were appointed as the operators of the Cliffs View Café securing the ten year lease worth €2.35m beating off competition from four other firms at the time.