Shannon Development is to appeal to An Bord Pleanála against Clare County Council's decision to approve its own plan for a new visitor centre at the Cliffs of Moher.
"We have previously made known our concerns on the negative impact that this development would have on the environmentally sensitive landscape at the Cliffs, and we now have no choice but to lodge an appeal," Mr John King, Shannon Development's heritage and tourism director, said yesterday.
Two years ago the Limerick-based agency commissioned a multidisciplinary team of advisers to draw up an alternative strategy for the future development of the Cliffs of Moher, which are one of Ireland's most popular tourist attractions with some 750,000 visitors per year.
As part of this work, Shannon Development adopted a "charter" for future development at the Cliffs in April 2001. It recommends that any proposal for development be evaluated against the objectives of the charter.
In preparing the charter, similar environmentally-sensitive areas were studied including the Giant's Causeway in Co Antrim and the new visitor centre at Newgrange, as well a variety of national parks in the US, including the Grand Canyon.
According to Mr King, best management practices at these sites recommend building tourist infrastructure away from environmentally sensitive areas, a point made repeatedly by the Burren Action Group in its campaign against the proposed visitor centre at Mullaghmore.
Shannon Development's strategy for the Cliffs of Moher stresses the need to conserve the physical environment and proposes a number of environmental initiatives to restore the landscape, among them the removal of existing visitor facilities, including a café and craft shop.
Apart from relocating all visitor facilities to nearby villages, the plan calls for the introduction of a "park and ride" facility to connect the villages to the Cliffs by tour bus and the provision on-site of guides to "enhance the visitor experience" and ensure safety.
As well as protecting the "exceptional" quality of the cliffs, Mr King said, moving the tourist infrastructure away from the area to a number of surrounding villages would ensure that the people of north Clare would be the main economic beneficiaries.
He said Shannon Development was disappointed with Clare County Council's decision to proceed with its plan for a 3,000 sq m (32,290 sq ft) visitor centre at the cliffs.
