This article is from page 12 of the 2006-07-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
THE go-ahead has been given for a €1.61 million plan to end the continuing environmental damage to the Burren and rejuvenate the area’s tourism industry.
Fáilte Ireland has allocating €1.4 million to an integrated management strategy for the Burren – the first such inter-agency initiative to be launched since the Government announced its ill-fated visitor centre plans at Mullaghmore in 1991. The Department of the Environment has already contributed €210,000 to the scheme.
Clare County Council in partnership with Shannon Development is leading the initiative. The council’s Heritage Officer, Congella Maguire said yesterday that the project was initiated in response to the Burren’s rich heritage coming under increasing threat.
“The growing demands of the tourism and leisure industry and increasing visitor numbers are taking their toll on the environment of the Burren.
“This has resulted in environmental damage through car parking on fragile species-rich limestone grasslands, the destruction of limestone pavement through construction by visitors of ‘mini-dolmens’, the removal of weathered limestone for garden products and the picking of rare and endangered flora.”
Ms Maguire said that the initiative “marks the first phase towards an integrated management structure and a coordinated approach to visitor management issues in the Burren”.
Amongst the key objectives of the ‘Environmental Protection of the Burren through Visitor Management’ initiative is the implementation of a co-ordinated and integrated approach to environmental protection and visitor management.
According to Ms Maguire: “Actions to be undertaken include the development of four circular driving routes to direct visitors away from the main ‘honey-pot’ sites and encourage them to visit lesser known and accessible sites in the central and eastern Burren.”
The three-year project also involves the designation and promotion of various gateway entry points to the Burren; the development of touch screen digital information hubs at five key locations, and the development of themed walking routes.
Other actions include the erection of improved signage in the Burren region, the development of an innovative multimedia educational programme, the production and distribution of multilingual information packs, the development of geological trails, a Burren Monuments Trail and the provision of infrastructural works at the Poulnabrone archaeological site and Fanore Dunes complex.