Hearing on Cliffs of Moher centre opens today

An attempt by Clare Tourist Council to mediate in the dispute over visitor facilities at the Cliffs of Moher has failed, with an An Bord Pleanála oral hearing into the proposal going ahead as planned today.

Last February, Clare County Council secured the go-ahead for plans from its planning department to develop a €15 million visitor centre at the site.

However, the council's former partners in the plan and the body charged with promoting tourism in the midwest region, Shannon Development, appealed the decision to An Bord Pleanála.

In its appeal, Shannon Development claimed the plans "are extremely intrusive upon the natural environment and do not represent an appropriate proposal, based on best international practice for management of sensitive natural heritage resources and sensitive landscapes."

The centre is to be built into the hillside behind the existing tea rooms and toilets and comprises an audio-visual theatre, a restaurant and exhibition area.

It will have its roof grassed over to lessen its visual impact.

A separate retail centre is to be located in the existing car-park at the cliffs, which attract 670,000 visitors annually.

Shannon Development had been involved in formulating the plans but withdrew in March 2000 to allow the council go it alone.

The project had been delayed since 1993 over a contractual dispute with local landowners before plans were finally lodged last year allowing the landowners to have a stake in the retail centre.

According to Mr Paddy Maher of Clare Tourist Council, they recently wrote to both bodies stating that they would appoint a professional mediator in an attempt to avoid the two clashing at the oral hearing and to resolve the dispute.

Mr Maher said: "We made the offer in the best interests of Clare tourism, because the dispute is bringing negative publicity to Clare and is not good for the county's image." Mindful of the 10-year battle over visitor plans at Mullaghmore, in the Burren National Park, Mr Maher said: "Visitors have seen the dispute over the cliffs centre take place and ask us 'can ye do anything in Clare without fighting over it'?"

However, Mr Maher said the council declined the offer of a professional mediator, stating the oral hearing process is in train and there are other parties, such as An Taisce, involved.

"It's disappointing. We are impartial in this and want to see it resolved," he said

The oral hearing will take place over the next three days and the council is expected to state that its plan has the support of the public and local businesses in north Clare, pointing out that no objections were received apart from those lodged by An Taisce and Shannon Development.

The council will state that their proposal will "resolve the principal environment issues within the immediate area of the cliffs by improving the visual scarring of the car-park area through revised landscape measures and improved access within the cliff areas by means of improved car and bus-parking arrangements".

As an alternative, Shannon Development has put forward its own visitor management model, which will involve removing the existing car-park at the cliffs and putting in place a park-and-ride scheme.

However, that alternative has been dismissed by the council, which states that the proposals are merely a conceptual approach - a park-and-ride scheme also forms part of the council's proposal.