*Photograph: John Mangan
“DOOLIN is in the eye of the storm” with regard to the quantity of work involved in the Cliffs of Moher strategy, a senior official in Clare County Council has remarked.
Both ‘Park & Ride’ and ‘Park & Stride’ facilities are among the plans under consideration for the North Clare tourist hotspot, Director of Rural Development with Clare County Council, Leonard Cleary outlined.
Creation of “a safe and appropriate mobility plan” for Doolin in advance of this year’s “very busy tourist season” had been sought by Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) at a sitting of the West Clare Municipal District. “At a minimum I call for safe pedestrian paths to be in place in advance of the tourist season,” he said.
New footpaths have been constructed by the local authority in recent years from Fisher Street to Fitz’s Cross, senior executive engineer Enda MacNamara outlined. Development of a pedestrian crossing at Fitz’s Cross was approved under the Active Travel scheme last year along with an extension of the existing footpaths between Fitz’s Cross and Roadford. “The area office expect to commence construction of the pedestrian crossing in Q2 2022. A design was finalised for the extension of existing footpaths to Roadford but discussions with landowners has resulted in the requirement to prepare a new design. Works on a revised design are ongoing”.
Additional funding will be sought under the Active Travel scheme for new footpaths between Doolin Pier and Fisher St, he confirmed as will an extension of the footpaths beyond Roadford.
Cllr Garrihy described Doolin as “a location where hundreds of thousands of people are thankfully attracted to, it is used as one of our postcards and one of the most popular locations to market our county. The fact there wasn’t proper footpaths, linkages and basic infrastructure isn’t worth going back on, it is very easy to criticise the past. We can do whatever we focus on. We have very little defence when we don’t focus where hundreds of thousands of people are converging on and make sure they are safe”.
There is no choice but to make the area safe, the Lisdoonvarna man insisted. He acknowledged the €6m investment in Doolin Pier in 2015. He remarked of Doolin, “it’s a magnet for surfers, sea swimmers, pleasure and just about everything, it is one of the must visit places on the Wild Atlantic Way”. Garrihy continued, “the option is not there to not put all we can into getting everything right, it’s not safe and it’s not a great experience going into the amount of congestion without the resources. Doolin has waited 30 years for Active Travel and for me, that is too long. We can’t be using the west coast of Clare for everywhere else, to make hotels full in Ennis and for use of Shannon Airport and not make it safe”.
According to Cllr Joe Killeen (FF), “Doolin is such a busy place for tourists in winter and summer, it is a bit like Spancilhil on Fair Day a lot of the days in Doolin. Walk from Doolin Pier to Fisher’s St, the footpath is not continued all the way out, it is an amazing walk, if they had it in Kerry it would be paved in gold and a priority so it has to be a priority for us”.
Similar to Fanore, there is a feeling in Doolin “of being a poor relation when looking at infrastructure in places like Lahinch, Spanish Point and Kilkee,” Cllr Shane Talty (FF) commented. He spoke of staying by Fitz’ Cross for a stag over a decade ago, “the sight of slightly inebriated men walking was a death trap”.
Engagement from landowners has been positive, Cleary told the meeting. He detailed that numerous years’ worth of work has been put into a masterplan for Doolin including aspects on footpaths and parking. “There are over half a million visitors flowing through Doolin in any season, it is a sizeable number of visitors to be facilitated that requires an increase in the numbers of staffing. On all fronts, it is a priority for us, Doolin Visitor Centre will be going forward into the planning system very soon”.
Cleary advised that either a ‘Park & Ride’ or ‘Park & Stride’ is likely to be introduced in a bid to “get some of the free independent travelers off the road with vehicles”. He said that this will form discussions on the plans for visitor experience, the County Development Plan and with landowners. “I would like the research done on them before the next stage of Cliffs of Moher strategy. There is a lot of work to do and Doolin is in the eye of the storm”.
Agreement was voiced by Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) on the benefit of the €6m investment to Doolin, “we have to support the likes of Doolin, it needs a lot of attention”. Cathaoirleach of the West Clare MD, Cllr Cillian Murphy (FF) expressed delight with the reference to ‘Park & Stride’, “a slow road can help to create these hubs that people can access”.
