Clare County Council is seeking to take over management of the Cliffs of Moher walking trail, where three people have lost their lives in separate incidents so far this year.
The cliff edge walk, which is owned by 37 local farmers, is managed by Clare Local Development Company (CLDC), in consultation with Fáilte Ireland and Clare County Council.
Two sections of the 18km trail, located either side of the Cliffs of Moher Experience, have been closed since late August following a Sport Ireland safety audit.
CLDC has described the actions required as a result of this audit as “significant” and a spokesman for the group said the trail is not likely to reopen fully “any time soon”.
Earlier this week, Clare councillors unanimously passed a motion requesting that the local authority take control of the trail, which is, by some distance, the most popular in Ireland.
Chief Executive of Clare County Council, Pat Dowling, said it was “quite logical” that the local authority would take over management of the trail and that achieving that goal would be “my very clear plan from this day forward”.
Local councillor, Shane Talty (FF), said CLDC doesn’t have the resources to manage the walk safely.
“This is a dangerous grade of a walk, it is hugely popular and it carries a huge volume of numbers, it needs an active level of management and maintenance that I don’t think CLDC have the capacity to deliver,” he said.
“We need a single agency which has the capacity and resources to manage it. At present, if a landowner has an issue, all they can do is contact the CLDC who simply don’t have the personnel or the capacity to go out on the ground and make a quick intervention.
“If the local authority was the lead agency, at least we have crews, the technicians that you need to assess a problem, determine a solution and deliver that solution. CLDC simply don’t have those resources.”
Eoin Hogan of CLDC said comments made by local councillors and the council CEO were premature, and that all stakeholders should wait until a management strategy, which is currently being drafted, is completed.
“A Cliffs of Moher strategy is being developed. We had meetings last week about that and we are hoping to get a draft soon,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Clare County Council said a consultation process with landowners and the public is ongoing.
In May of this year, a Belgian medical student fell from the 700ft cliff when the group she was travelling with tried to walk around another group of walkers on the trail. On July 5th, 17-year-old Armagh student Lochlann Murray died after falling from the cliff edge, while in late July, a boy who was travelling in Ireland with his parents also fell to his death from the trail.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis