Artificial reef proposed for Lahinch surfers

A proposal to install an artificial reef to improve surfing conditions at the coastal resort of Lahinch, Co Clare, has met a mixed reaction from the local surfing community.

Councillors from north Clare are to discuss the plan after Green Party councillor Brian Meaney proposed that the council investigate the feasibility of constructing the artificial reef in Lahinch bay to enhance the resort's status as the country's top surfing destination.

He made his suggestion against the background of a very bad year for surf at Lahinch and other popular surf spots on Ireland's west coast due to continuous unsettled weather. He made the proposal after seeing that Clare's counterparts in Bournemouth were spending £800,000 (€1.19 million) on an artificial reef - Europe's first - for the south England seaside resort.

However, surf shop owner and treasurer of the West Coast Surf Club, Tom Buckley yesterday described the Meaney proposal as "total lunacy".

"I am against artificial reefs in principle. You should not interfere with nature, you should leave nature alone. There are always consequences - many unforeseen - when you do meddle with nature." He said the reef was a "daft" idea.

"Nobody would know what would happen in terms of sand movements. It could strip away the sand. We don't need it. There are needs for surfers - but an artificial reef is not one of them."

Current Irish senior champion John McCarthy of the Lahinch Surf School dismissed the idea as "a white elephant". He said "Lahinch is one of those places that least needs an artificial reef. There are loads of natural reefs already out there."

Other surf operators in the area welcomed the idea. Stuart Green of the Green Room surf shop and school said: "It is a good idea. I would not be averse to an artificial reef. There has been no surf for the past two months. It has been terrible, the worst year that I have known. Locally, there could be opposition to it. Putting in place artificial reefs is done in the United States. It is a nice idea.

"It would improve the waves and improve the numbers of people coming here."

Ollie Walsh of OceanScene said he would welcome it, but before anything was done, a lot of research would have to be carried out. "It would be better to have the reef at the nearby Spanish Point beach where there is a much greater need for it as Lahinch already has lots of natural reefs."

In the written response to Mr Meaney's motion, the council executive stated that a feasibility study would cost €100,000 and a reef could cost up to €10 million - almost 10 times the cost of the Bournemouth model.

Mr Meaney said yesterday: "Surfing is now very much mainstream and an artificial reef - if done properly - could become a great asset for Clare's tourism."