This article is from page 4 of the 2014-09-09 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
CLARE County Council have no responsibility for Cregg Beach, in Lahinch. According to senior executive engineer Cyril Feeney, the only ac- cess to the beach is through private lands, making any potential public repair work there difficult for the council. Last month Cllr Bill Slattery (FG) asked that the local authority clean up the beach by pulling back the stones and gravel after the January storm to allow access for the general public onto the beach. He was told that the beach in question is not a beach routinely maintained by Clare County Council and is also situated on private property. Since then Mr Feeney has confirmed two registered landowners adjacent to the beach, with no public right of way recorded. “Where we have registered owners we should not or could not go in to do work,” he said. “So Clare County Council has no responsibility for Cregg beach?” Cllr Slattery asked at the West Clare Municipal District meeting. “Not that I am aware of,” replied the engineer. “I am not saying it is a private beach but that we have no presence there. “We would have to go through private land to access the beach,” he said. The local councillor maintained that; “For hundreds of years locals had gone up and took gravel and sand and seaweed from the beach.” It was suggested by some councillors that perhaps the work could be complete if the landowners would give permission for access.