Boat club: Ireland has not turned its back on the sea entirely - it has benefited from substantial investment in marina development in the past few years, with numbers growing from six in 1996 to 22 in 2006. Another 10 facilities are in the pipeline.
But this still places Ireland at an early development stage compared to our European neighbours. La Rochelle, in western France, has 3,400 berths in its town marina, about the same number of berths around our coast from Killybegs to Carlingford.
It is estimated that a 50-80-berth marina, similar to Cahirciveen or Dingle marina, can generate up to €850,000 annually for the local economy.Although Tony Rice of the International Council of Marina Industry Associations says in future 200 berths should be the minimum size for economic sustainability, in an Irish context it is more a case of "anything is better than nothing" and commercial sense has not always prevailed.
In Northern Ireland, there are more berths than there are boats. Marinas have been seen as regenerative tools by borough councils as a means to attract visiting boats.
The British Marine Federation (BMF) estimated that visiting boats to UK marinas contribute on average £150 (€227) each per night to the local economy. Dún Laoghaire Marina had more than 820 visitors last year, staying an average of three nights per boat. Using the British figures, this means that visitors to Dún Laoghaire contributed almost €600,000 to the local economy on top of the overnight charge of €28 for a typical seven-metre boat.
A recent survey of businesses in Dún Laoghaire and Malahide carried out by an Irish Sea Inter-Reg project indicates that marinas in both towns had a positive impact on 37 per cent of respondents. At Kilmore Quay, some 67 per cent of businesses surveyed believed that their local marina contributed to their success. In the west and south-west, Ireland has some of the best cruising grounds in Europe but, with some exceptions, there are no facilities for cruising boats.
As an initiative toward attracting cruising boats, 250 visitor mooring buoys, primarily on the west coast, were deployed as a joint initiative by the Marine Institute and Fáilte Ireland.
"The impact that marine leisure tourism can have on small rural fishing communities should be plain for everyone to see," says Tralee-based Brian O'Sullivan of the Irish Marine Federation.
The industry is keen to demonstrate that with the correct infrastructure and a policy to encourage participation, it would be possible to increase this sector by at least 50 per cent in a relatively small timeframe. "Marine leisure tourism is completely sustainable, eco-friendly and would bring economic benefits of tourism to isolated rural communities," adds O'Sullivan.
