Clare County Council has been accused of arbitrarily introducing bylaws which will damage the surf-school industry and affect safety at one of the country’s busiest beaches.
Since Monday, the operators of five surf schools at Lahinch have had to move their businesses to a small area in a car park at the far end of the beach.
Operators have expressed anger at what they have described as the council’s “indefensible actions” which, it has been claimed, will “threaten the livelihoods of surf instructors” and have already seen passing business “plummet”.
According to Cian Kearns, an instructor with Ben’s Surf Clinic: “Over 20 people work giving lessons in Lahinch, some for the summer and others all year long. In a small rural area like Lahinch, these jobs are very important in providing local employment.
“However, Clare County Council arbitrarily passed new bylaws directly impacting on, and damaging, this industry. This location is out of sight from any visiting tourists and any advertising of the existence of these schools is prohibited by the new bylaws,” Mr Kearns said.
The council has allocated two public parking spaces to each of the surf schools, according to Mr Kearns. “There is just physically not enough space for five surf schools to operate side by side in 10 small spaces.”
A council spokesman said it held a four-week public consultation process in relation to the draft bylaws and invited the surf school operators to make submissions. “This process concluded at the end of April and the bylaws were adopted at the May meeting of Clare County Council.”
The local authority also placed advertisements in local media about the consultation process while all the surf-school operators were handed a copy of draft bylaws and invited to make submissions, the council added.
The council has confirmed that only one of the five schools made a submission and none of the issues outlined by Mr Kearns were raised.