IT may have left the public mind but the row over the dreaded interpretative centre that had been planned for Mullaghmore in the Burren is far from over. The controversy may resurrect itself in the High Court next Monday, when the Government will come under pressure to reveal its intentions for bringing the saga to an end.
A year ago Michael D. Higgins announced that the Mullaghmore project was to be abandoned and that the site would be restored to its original natural state. But so far the preparatory development cork on the site, including a parking lot and building foundations, has not been dismantled.
The Burren Action Group is pursuing the Government through the High Court to compel it to undo the illegal work and restore the site as it promised. If next Monday's hearing goes ahead, it should provide clarification of the Government's professed intention to turn the Burren into a national park "in the context of a conservation strategy for the wider countryside of north Clare".
If a fully fledged national park is to be developed, a visitors' centre of some kind will have to be provided in a site that would be accepted by everybody. The best guess is that the crux will be solved by upgrading and expanding the Burren visitors' centre in the village of Kilfenora, a move which might lay to rest the controversy over Mullaghmore.