Award-winning year in North Clare

Review

Despite international economic decline and extreme weather conditions in the latter part of the year, 2009 proved very successful for a number of North Clare businesses.

Throughout North Clare, food-related companies were recognised by a number of prestigious organisations.
The Burren Smokehouse and Visitor Centre in Lisdoonvarna won the best producer accolade at the Good Food Ireland Awards, while Inagh Farmhouse Cheese won the Best Export Organic Product 2009 title at the National Organic Awards. The Burren Perfumery, The River Run Bistro and Doonbeg were each nominated for the Top Regional Member West Award in the Good Food Ireland Awards, a title won by Doonbeg.
The Burren Smokehouse was presented with the Seafood Exporter Award 2009 at the 2009 Exporter of the Year Awards held at the Concert Hall at the RDS in Dublin in December.
Gregans Castle in Ballyvaughan scooped one of the Irish hospitality industry’s most prestigious awards when it won the coveted Hotel and Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Fine Dining at the Gold Medal Awards. The hotel and eatery was also Clare’s sole winner at the 2010 Georgina Campbell Awards, bringing home the honours for Country House of the Year, as well as the Country House Breakfast.
Gregans Castle and Linnane’s Lobster Bar, New Quay, were both nominated for the Munster Best Restaurant Award at the Food & Wine magazine Restaurant of the Year Awards 2009. Mickael Viljanen from Gregans Castle was also shortlisted in the Munster Best Chef category.
Separately, 13 Burren-based businesses were presented with certificates in ecotourism at a ceremony in August. The course introduced the concept of ecotourism to businesses that wished to create and promote a sustainable and environmentally sensitive approach to tourism.
Each of the businesses is now participating in a pilot ecotourism accreditation project with Greenbox, the outcome of which will be a national ecotourism standards and accreditation label.
In August, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food allocated €1 million per year for three years to Burren farmers, something that would result in “substantial spin-offs to the local rural economy”, a local expert claimed. The €3m investment is part of a €207m package announced by Minister Brendan Smith.
During the same month, the Voice on the Ground survey found that tourism is not to the forefront of most Burren farmers’ minds. Key researcher on the survey, Kathy Walsh pointed out that “only a small number of farm families identified tourism either of concern or of interest to them. This is probably not surprising since only nine (8%) of the families surveyed had tourism-based businesses on their farm, with a further 11 household members employed off the farm in the tourism and hospitality sector.”
Later, a new study commissioned by the Clare-based BurrenLIFE project found that there is a public willingness to pay farmers to maintain the landscape and biodiversity values of their farms. The ‘willingness to pay’ for these environmental goods was estimated at €842 per hectare by a NUI Galway-based research group.
The Burren was also in the news when almost 550 hikers took part in the first Burren Peaks Walking Festival.
Later in 2009, North Clare hosted one of the world’s most famous writers. Legendary fantasy writer Terry Pratchett visited Ennistymon in November, drawing hundreds of fans to the Falls Hotel. The world-renowned author was in the area to attend the country’s first Discworld convention.
Residents of nearby Liscannor took the initiative in giving their village a facelift in June when the Liscannor Harbour Amenity Organisation, set up in the previous month, removed on average 100 bags of rubbish from the harbour area every week.
Prior to returning to school, children in Mol an Óige primary school received good news when Clare County Council granted it planning permission for the erection of a prefabricated classroom and permitted the retention of a further prefab for a temporary period at the school.
Meanwhile, 500 past pupils of Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna began the school’s diamond jubilee celebrations by visiting their alma mater.
During the year, a Crusheen man who lived in the United States for 80 years was honoured by the Clare Association of New York. The County Clare PB and S Association of New York City honoured Joseph Cunningham and his Leitrim-born wife Rose, as well as Miltown Malbay man Pete Vaughan at its 121st annual ball.
The planned demolition of two buildings in Ennistymon, Blakes and Linnanes, at the junction with the Lahinch Road proved highly contentious in 2009. A number of people wanted to retain the buildings or at least their façade in order to preserve an element of the town’s history. However, many local elected representatives were opposed to this in favour of their removal in the interest of public safety. The issue is yet to be finalised.
The controversial development of a visitor centre at the Pol an Ionainn Cave in Doolin was given the green light in 2009. Clare County Council granted planning permission for the development at Craggecorradan in April but the company behind rival attraction the Aillwee Caves, along with An Taisce and another party, appealed this to An Bord Pleanála. In October, the board upheld the local authority’s decision and granted permission subject to 12 conditions for a visitor reception building with shop and café, a car park and a wastewater treatment system.