INIS CEALTRA’s long awaited opening as a visitor attraction will be done in a “two-pronged approach”.
General Manager of Clare Tourism East, Stephen Hanley said, “the project is almost there for the Rectory”. It is planned that the Old Rectory will open as a visitor and interpretative centre in March 2025 while the island aspect of the project will follow in 2026.
Current works in front of the Old Rectory are focused on the 3.3 acre lawn. “It gives security that there is great demand,” Hanley told a sitting of the Tourism Development SPC. “Once the island is opened in 2026, we will have the completion of the attraction”. He explained, “Inis Cealtra will be opened on a two-pronged approach”.
Director of Tourism Development with Clare County Council, Siobhán McNulty said, “the rectory rerfubishment project is nearing completion”. She advised that a part ten planning application would be lodged with An Bord Pleanála for a car park, island works and future proofing.
Clare County Council acquired the Old Rectory Buildiung in Mountshannon in October 2021. In January 2022, a meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District was told that it was intended to have the visitor centre operational by the second or third quarter of 2023.
Under the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF), €3,906,252 was allocated to transform the Old Rectory in Mountshannon into the gateway to one of the most significant ecclesiastical sites in Ireland. Clare County Council were to match the allocation with a €1m investment from its own resources.
Last October, the Council signed a contract with M. Fitzgibbon Contractors Ltd for the redevelopment of the visitor centre building, which was then due to be completed in 2024, and will comprise of a revitalised exhibition area that interpret local stories and the island of Inis Cealtra, a reception area, an upstairs café and rectory garden.
