*Hags Head on the Cliffs of Moher Coastal Walk.
AFTER MANY false dawns, the eagerly awaited Tobin Report, a management plan for the Cliffs of Moher Coastal Walk is to be presented to Clare County Council officials in two weeks.
Director of Service in the Tourism Development Directorate of the Council, Siobhán McNulty confirmed on Wednesday morning that the report “is due in two weeks”. The Tobin Report was commissioned by CLDC, Clare County Council, Fáilte Ireland and the Department of Rural and Community Development to create a management plan for the coastal walk.
Consultants Tobin in October said they were “excited” to be developing a management plan for the coastal walk on the Council’s behalf. “As the 18km long trail is centred on the most popular outdoor visitor attraction in Ireland at the Cliffs of Moher Experience, it faces a number of challenges including capacity issues, habitat degradation, safety issues, and poor trail condition. The objective of the Management Plan is to address these issues and ensure the long-term sustainability of this iconic outdoor amenity,” the consultants detailed.
Chairperson of Clare IFA, Tom Lane who is leading negotiations for the 38 landowners along the coastal walk flagged the matter at Wednesday’s meeting of the Council’s Tourism Development strategic policy committee (SPC).
After a presentation from Geraldine Enright, Director of the Cliffs of Moher Experience, Tom noted, “There’s an awful lot in one document, the Cliffs of Moher Experience incorporates a walking trail but there is no mention of what is outside that which is owned by the Council. You’re showing the positives for everything but not mentioning the landowners, you have to take a few steps that direction and mediate”.
Cathaoirleach of the SPC, Cllr Shane Talty (FF) acknowledged that the coastal walk wasn’t on the agenda for the meeting but said, “it is the elephant in the room, the trail and the future, it is outside the visitor experience”.
A discussion on the coastal walk was not part of the agenda “because we don’t have the management plan from Tobin, it is due in two weeks and I know we’ve said before that about two week period,” McNulty advised while saying “the goalposts have moved”. “Whatever document produced needs to be correct, it needs to be right and it needs to be a quality document, they are working diligently”.
She stressed that the Council was “absolutely committed” to working with stakeholders including landowners along the trail. McNulty said they remain in discussions with CLDC, Fáilte Ireland and the Department on the development of the report. “We are not at any stage ignoring or grabbing the bull by the horns by the robust discussions which need to be held, it will happen when we have the document”.
Lane said the Cliffs of Moher Experience “has been overlapping onto the trail”. He referred to the high levels of footfall experienced last year. “A lot of landowners north and south are losing confidence in yourselves because the Tobin Report has not come out, I don’t know what goalposts have moved but people are getting cross. We were told in November it was coming out”.
Once completed, the Tobin Report “will be the end to end vision for the walk,” Siobhan said. She outlined that the CLDC could work with landowners in the interim on works that can be done. “Landowners want to see an end goal but there is an intervening period which can be ran on two tracks”. She continued, “The report is coming, we’ll bring it to landowners as first stakeholder piece, we hope to have report in two weeks time and meet landowners then”.
“We were told that in November by a consultant, what has delayed it,” Lane asked. The Tourism Director said additional works required on project scoping “delayed it to an extent, it is within touching distance”. Lane replied, “The longer the delay the more aggravated people are getting”.
Elected members of the Council have sought “a proper and effective management plan” for the coastal walk, Cllr Talty commented. “We have a desire of where we need to go, the broader 39 landowners on the stretch of the walk isn’t in the remit of the County Council or this SPC but it is right that we talk about it”.
Frustrations of landowners is shared across North Clare, Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) said. “There are questions to be asked about why this wasn’t seen four or five years ago,” he believed.
“I’d have rather had this conversation five or six years ago which I think was imminently foreseeable, when things are working away people get complacent,” he added. “I agree, everybody seems to be playing catch-up now,” Lane noted.
