Visitor facilities proposed for Mullaghmore in the Burren National Park are fundamentally different in principle and function from a visitor centre and will not generate tourism in the area, a Bord Pleanala hearing heard in Ennis yesterday.
According to Mr Dave Fadden, principal officer with the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, the proposed entry point would assist Duchas, the heritage service, in the management of visitors and the conservation of the national park.
Mr Fadden was speaking on the seventh day of the hearing into the appeal by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, against the decision by Clare County Council to refuse planning permission for visitor facilities at Mullaghmore.
Mr Fadden stated that the primary function of the proposed entry point was to provide this physical facility for the management of visitors. "It is not a visitor centre," he said.
After questioning from An Taisce, Mr Eamon Galligan, for the Minister, said that a comment in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) lodged by the applicants to the board that the entry point could be seen as a catalyst for the expansion of the tourism industry in the Burren region was not consistent with the evidence given by the applicants in the hearing.
Mr Fadden said the current number of visitors to the Mullaghmore area was 8,000 per annum, with a projected rise over 10 years to 10,000. He added there was no evidence that the number of visitors was going to increase greatly just because a car park would be at the location.
He stated there would be no marketing of the entry point.
"What you are looking at is a situation of controlling visitors, not trying to encourage them to visit the entry point."
In a submission at the hearing yesterday, Mr Fadden said the proposed alternative was that visitors had access to the National Park with no focused direction and management and without any structure to facilitate an ongoing staff presence at the site.
He said: "There is no solution offered as to how these visitors should be controlled other than to designate a nature reserve (in the Mullaghmore area)."
Mr Jim Shannon, a solicitor acting for the Mullaghmore Action Group, stated that the number of visitors anticipated by the applicants to the entry point was nonsensical.
He said the increase estimated by the Department was the equivalent of one person per day per annum. He stated that the proposed linked centres in Corofin, Ballyvaughan and Kilfenora, which may attract 80,000 to 90,000 visitors per annum will include people who will want to visit the national park.
Mr Shannon said: "This will result in a much bigger increase than the increase anticipated by the Department." The hearing, which was due to end yesterday, is expected to conclude today.
