*Photograph: Tina O’Connell
DOOLIN PIER’s use as a swimming destination can no longer be ignored with Chinese whispers an obstacle at the North Clare location.
Lisdoonvarna based Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) in a proposal this week, called on the West Clare Municipal District to reiterate its commitment to the community and leisure use at the old Doolin Pier “and to place this objective as a priority in overall master planning at the Pier”.
Director of Service, Tourism Development and the West Clare MD, Leonard Cleary said they would work closely with the Council’s environment section “in the support of all functions at Doolin Pier. There is currently a public consultation process being co-ordinated by Environment Section for all swimming areas. A cross-directorate meeting was held recently to brief Elected Members on a range of issues pertaining to Doolin. There are a number of uses at the pier, which need to be considered and balanced within safety and pier/harbour regulations”.
Holding the workshop months back was a positive, Cllr Garrihy acknowledged while he commended Enda MacNamara and John O’Malley of the West Clare MD for meeting the community group which helped to clear “up a lot of misinformation and the rumour mill that spreads in the vacuum because the local community were fully of the view that pier was being taken over by Clare County Council”.
Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting of the West Clare MD, Cllr Garrihy cited one such example, “I had one text that cruise ships were coming in from Crab Island and would be bused to the Cliffs”.
He added, “We got an incredibly engaged community group who came together. My father was involved in the very first pier built there. I welcome the reply, following submissions we have a commitment that there will be another workshop to look at overall master plan”. Garrihy concluded, “The proactive engagement I can’t overstate how valuable that is to fill vacuums and stop Chinese whispers”.
“That is what happens when we leave a vacuum and don’t supply information, there are plenty of willing participants that will fill the vacuum. We can have all the audits that we like but we can’t stick our head in the sand, on a day to day basis people are using Doolin Pier as a destination to swim, how can we come up with a workable solution for those. The gathering on Sunday evening was fantastic, it was labelled as a protest against something which was not on the table,” commented Cllr Shane Talty (FF).
