MINISTER OF State for the Office of Public Works (OPW) Dr Martin Mansergh is to meet boatmen in south Kerry to discuss reducing the length of the season in which there is public access to Skellig Michael.
“I do understand the importance of Skellig Michael from a tourist point of view and the livelihood of the boatmen,” he said.
He said that since the issuing of permits to 15 boatmen in 1995, the season defining public access to the early Christian monastic site was from late May to late September.
In 2007, the season was defined as from May 18th to September 24th, which brought more certainty to when, subject to weather conditions, boat operators could land visitors on the site.
Dr Mansergh said the OPW believed it was essential, both for the security of the island and the safety of visitors, that visits only take place during the official opening period.
“To do otherwise is to leave the OPW open to accusations that it is not properly protecting one of the three world heritage sites on the island of Ireland,” he added.
Kerry South Fianna Fáil TD John O’Donoghue has described as “nonsense” the OPW claim that the site was inaccessible in April and part of May, preventing placing guides and equipment there.
“The fact is that hundreds of tourists have been landed there in these months for more than 45 years,” Mr O’Donoghue added.
He said that the OPW had reduced by three months the traditional season from April 21st to October 31st.
Mr O’Donoghue, who raised the matter in the Dáil, warned that the reduced season would have a devastating effect, not only on the ferryboats who might go out of business, but also on the wider tourism industry in the southwest which was already struggling in difficult economic times.
He suggested the provision of shore-based guides in April, May and October, travelling to and from the site with the ferryboats, as initially suggested by the OPW, was the answer to maintaining the traditional season.
However, he added, the OPW had now withdrawn the offer.
Dr Mansergh said the monastic enclosure was almost entirely constructed of dry stone, which was vulnerable and could be easily damaged.
By the early 1990s, the most important paving on the site had been considerably damaged by the volume of visitors, and it was necessary to protect it from further damage by putting a new paving on top.
It was in the context of damage being caused to the site that the OPW decided, in the mid-1990s, visitor numbers would have to be reduced if it was to survive.
Dr Mansergh said two fatalities had occurred on the site last year, one when it was officially closed and there was no OPW guide present.
