A DRAFT management plan for the Burren in Co Clare proposes dispersing visitor facilities and says there is no need to develop a major interpretative centre at Mullaghmore.
The plan, published yesterday, suggests the abandoned interpretative centre structure on the site could be adapted to provide staff accommodation and a base for guides, as well as some toilets and car parking at what would become the main entrance to the Burren National Park.
"Visitors awaiting guided walks will require some form of shelter from the elements, though this could be as simple as a covered outdoor space. Basic interpretative material might be provided in association with this waiting area," it says.
Information and interpretation would be provided elsewhere, in an integrated way, according to the plan. Any proposals for further improvements to the main access roads to the Mullaghmore site are to be reviewed by the National Parks Service and Clare County Council.
A source close to the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, said the draft management plan would "hopefully copper fasten the efforts now being made on the ground to reconcile the polarised positions" taken up during the controversy over Mullaghmore.
Drawn up by landscape architects Brady Shipman Martin for the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, the multi volume study says the large flow of visitors to north Clare should be directed to specific routes and to a limited number of larger attractions.
It proposes that these facilities should be located in some of the main towns and villages, to be developed in conjunction with existing facilities. "The objective should be to obtain some economic benefit from the visitors, while minimising their environmental impact," it says.
"Visitors wishing to spend time in the area should initially be directed to key locations from which they would be encouraged to disperse throughout the area. The key locations include Lisdoonvarna, Ennistymon, Kilfenora, Corofin, Ballyvaughan and possibly Kinvara, in Co Galway.
"At these locations, orientation, information and interpretation on the north Clare area in general would be provided."
The study concedes that the development of new visitor facilities in Corofin, Kilfenora, Ballyvaughan and other centres "will require significant funding and support from a number of agencies" notably the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht.
At Kilfenora, it suggests integrating interpretation of the Burren's natural environment and archaeology in partnership with the existing Burren Display Centre. The National Park Service's office could be located in Corofin, while another facility could be developed in or near Ballyvaughan.
The location of a major "stand alone" visitor centre in the national park as the OPW had planned and its related traffic "could give rise to unacceptable impacts on the environment", the study says, adding that these issues had been "much debated in recent years".
It also refers to the need for farmers in the Burren to place a greater emphasis on conservation, seeing their role as "land managers as well as producers.
There was a guarded response last night from Prof Emer Colleran of An Taisce, one of the main opponents of the Mullaghmore plan. She said she would have to examine the study in detail before making any comment.
