Greater cohesion is needed when it comes to planning projects in East Burren parishes with calls made for a study to be undertaken in order to secure funding and progress developments in the area.
An appeal for a study of East Burren parishes was made by Cllr Joe Killeen (FF) at a recent sitting of the West Clare Municipal District. This, he explained was “with a view to encouraging the community supporting community concept in the County Development Plan, identify projects of mutual interest and identify funding sources to progress these projects”.
Acting senior executive officer in the Rural Development section of Clare County Council, Bernie Haugh insisted that active engagement with groups in the area was in motion as part of the Clare Rural Development Strategy. “Inter-parish collaboration and co-operating communities are a key theme in the approach underpinning this work. We will give consideration to the benefit that such a study would bring to the ongoing work, in particular to the East Burren area, and how such might be resourced,” she stated.
Some of the parishes form under the umbrella of Burren Lowlands, Cllr Killeen outlined. “Part of the motion wants to position them to get some benefit from the Burren Lowlands group and to identify common causes for those parishes to see can we support the communities in it. We want cohesion between Clare and Galway to seek funding to push projects forward”. He noted that some of the archaeological trail in the area starts in Galway and “goes all the way to Lisdoonvarna, those projects have a bigger footprint”.
Identifying more resources would be a move in the right direction, Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) believed. “We need more cohesion and joined up thinking for projects,” he added. Avoidance of duplication in communities would result if the motion came to life, Cllr Cillian Murphy (FF) predicted.
John O’Malley, acting senior executive officer in the West Clare MD flagged that parishes must come together along with the local authority supporting them.
