This article is from page 12 of the 2006-08-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
BALLYVAUGHAN-based author, Sarah Poyntz, has expressed dismay at what is happening in the Burren.
Ms Poyntz, who writes a column on rural life for the Guardian newspaper in the UK, recently described to her half-a-million readers how she had come upon tourists loading stones from a wall in the Burren into the back of a car.
She received letters from Guardian readers in the US and the UK in response to her column, in which she wrote, “Our walk began badly. We came upon visitors who were dismantling one of the glories of our Burren – a stone wall, a normal single wall.
“The stones were being loaded into a car. I asked the visitors to return the stones to the wall and waited while it was done, explaining that it is forbidden to remove or disturb stones or plants and how people dig up the rare flowers and cart away rocks for suburban gardens.”
This week she told The Clare People : “I do enjoy writing the Country Diary for the Guardian , but I have thought of giving up writing it because I feel terrible at what is going on in the Burren. People are uprooting flowers, removing stones, creating small little dolmens all the time. It is not a good situation”.
Ms Poyntz said that the flowers and rocks were being removed “due to the lack of wardens on the ground because the Government won’t pay for them”.
She added that the fields in the Burren are now full of ragweed and “this poisonous weed is choking flowers like the orchid,” adding, “I am not hopeful for the Burren”.
Ms Poyntz also expressed her dismay over some of the “dreadful houses” that have been allowed to be built and their impact on the Burren landscape.
Recently, Clare County Council has secured a €1.6 million plan to end the continuing environmental damage to the Burren and rejuvenate the area’s tourism industry. This follows Failte Ireland and the Department of the Environment allocating €1.6 million to an integrated management strategy for the Burren.
Ms Poyntz concluded, “Whatever needs to be done, needs to be done soon.”