Burren National Park to get park-and-ride visitor centre

The decade-long dispute over the provision of visitor facilities for the Burren National Park is nearing an end.

The breakthrough has come with a decision by a local Fianna Fáil TD, Mr Tony Killeen, to agree to a village-based park-and-ride model for visitor access to the National Park.

Over the past 10 years, Mr Killeen has advocated placing a visitor centre in the National Park.

However, he said yesterday the park-and-ride model put forward by Shannon Development for the Cliffs of Moher would have considerable merit now for the Burren National Park.

In that model, Shannon Development proposes removing the existing car-park and centre at the cliffs and locating the park-and-ride facilities in north Clare villages to ensure that the settlements received any dividend from visitors to the cliffs.

Mr Killeen acknowledged yesterday that he had significantly shifted his position.

"But the access arrangement that I supported throughout the 90s isn't now feasible.

"It wouldn't now get through the planning system, so there is no point pursuing it, because of the inevitable result. It is time now to be pragmatic and have the visitor management of the park progressed.

"We have to move on and realise something that is very attainable."

Since the An Bord Pleanála decision in 2000 to refuse planning permission for the Mullaghmore centre, the Government has made no movement on identifying alternative visitor facilities, while there exists no signage pointing tourists towards the Mullaghmore area.

Mr Killeen said it is a disgrace that a resource such as the Burren National Park has no regulated access and needs to be urgently addressed. The Fianna Fáil deputy said that there are now enough reports on the Burren and that there needs to be action to implement a visitor strategy for the area.