Clare locals say profiting from Cliffs and the Atlantic is putting their way of life at risk

LOCALS IN COUNTY Clare have hit out at their council over a range of new measures which they say are prioritising profit over community welfare.

The complaints come after heightened efforts by Clare County Council to charge people for using the Cliffs of Moher walk and a bid to ban swimming and water activities in the bay off nearby Doolin.

The council is hoping to develop the pier for commercial activity as part of a masterplan for the area, which relies on a successful tourism industry.

The chairwoman of Doolin Community Council, a local representative group, said the situation has caused “huge frustration” for locals who accuse the council of putting “commercial activities ahead of improving the quality of life” for people living in the area.

Locals angered by the move to end swimming in the bay told The Journal the area off the Atlantic coast has been used for bathing, sailing and surfing for generations.

Green Party councillor Liam Grant, a veteran surfer and former lifeguard, said the move has caused “outrage” in some circles in the region.

Doolin bay and harbour Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Grant said there has been further frustration over plans for the nearby Cliffs of Moher, where the council has stepped up efforts to charge people who take in the sights of the Cliffs of Moher by walking along the coast.

This has been done by hiring ‘wardens’ to check the incoming road for people dropping off visitors instead of using the onsite car park.

There is a charge of €12.50 for anyone using the car park or entering the council’s visitors centre – but this charge is now being applied to people who are dropped off by car outside the site.

• Why does it cost so much to park at the Cliffs of Moher? The Noteworthy team wants to find out. Support the project here.

The charge has long been a source of displeasure for locals – owing to the cliffs technically being a public right-of-way – and the development has added to tensions.

“It just feels very unclear what the council are legally allowed to do at the cliffs. They’re charging people who are dropped off outside the cliffs, but how about people who are dropped half a kilometre down the road?,” Grand told The Journal.

Hikers and people who arrive at the site by bus continue to be allowed in without charge but the council has sought to tighten this for others, Grant said.

The thing is, it’s a public right-of-way and I don’t think this would happen in any other public right-of-way in the country.

“There are cases where someone who has dropped off a group of four people near the site are being told you have to pay for the full five people. That’s over €12 a head so it’s going to cost you,” Grant added.

Grant said there were recently two ‘car parks’ opened in fields by local farmers who undercut the council by charging €2 for entry. This was done without planning and they have since closed.

The chairwoman of Doolin Community Council, Sarah Daly McTiernan, told The Journal that the council’s plans for the pier see it “entirely taken away from the public”.

The coastal village of Doolin Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

She said there are numerous problems affecting the area, from “rotting” ladders on the pier, to little in the way of public bins, causing “huge amounts of frustration” for the group.

A new pier was built a decade ago for ferry operators, who also use a separate pier around a kilometre outside the village for travelling to the Aran Islands.

In response to The Journal, the council said it is running a public participation process to identify bathing waters in the county, which closes on 28th September.

It said it is asking swimmers to tell them if “they think they should maintain existing designated bathing waters designations or give a new official bathing area designation to areas that are commonly used for swimming, but not identified at the moment”.

Daly McTiernan claimed there is a risk of contravening directives in the government’s Rural Development Policy that state bodies should deliver key projects that will improve the quality of life, social and economic wellbeing of people in local communites.

“Commercial development can benefit everyone but we want to do it mindfully and sustainably, but keeping in mind all people living in the area and of course the visitors to the area,” she said.

Risk assessment

Daly said a prime example of the council pushing ahead with its development of the area without consultation was in a risk assessment document for swimming at the pier.

She said a risk assessment of the old pier “wrongly contained information” that any swimming in the area was “prohibited” and locals are now contesting the document.

The publication, recently released to the community council and seen by The Journal, was commissioned by Clare County Council in 2021. It noted that upwards of 50 people use the pier daily in good weather and that it’s “extremely busy” at the height of the tourist season.

A petition has been launched by locals seeking the correction of aspects of the report. To date it has 800 signatures online as well as dozens more from a door-to-door campaign conducted by the community council, Daly-McTiernan said.

“The inaccuracies present in the published risk assessment undermine the efforts to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all individuals using Doolin Pier. This group has also applied for designated bathing waters and this is not referenced in the report,” the petition reads.

Clare County Council told The Journal it attempting to work with local councillors and the Doolin community to ensure that there is “clarity around the works” in the area and to ensure that the “best service is delivered for all”.

“Additional resources have been delivered to the Doolin pier area in recent years to help to deliver an improved service and there are plans currently to increase these resources to expand the services to the wider Doolin area shortly,” the council said.