CLARE County Council has confirmed that it has received 18 written submissions to the Draft Inis Cealtra Visitor Management and Sustainable Tourism Development Plan.
Submissions were made by members of the public and statutory authorities to the draft plan and the associated strategic environmental assessment, the habitats directive assessment and the strategic flood risk assessment.
The process of reviewing and considering these submissions is underway. When it is complete, the draft plan will be amended to become the final plan.
Brian McCarthy, senior planner, outlined the details on foot of a motion by Councillor Pat Burke. He asked the local authority to detail the number of submissions received from the public following the launch of the draft plan and to outline the next steps in the process.
Mr McCarthy said, “It is intended that the Inis Cealtra Visitor Management and Sustainable Tourism Development Plan will be presented to the local community in July 2017, thus concluding the plan-making process”.
Councillor Burke, who is among those to have made a submission, said he was aware that the community “put a lot of work into making their submissions. I’m interested to see how those consultants view that.”
He said he hoped that the final plan “will reflect and satisfy the submissions received”.
Solearth Architecture was appointed by Clare County Council in 2015 to prepare the plan.
“Since their appointment, extensive research and community consultation has been undertaken to ensure the plan, when finalised, represents an agreed way forward to realising the true potential of Inis Cealtra as a unique tourism product, whilst also protecting its spiritual and archaeological significance through sustainable development and visitor management,” Mr McCarthy said.
He added that community consultation has been a key component in the preparation of the plan.
“To date, three community consultation meetings have been undertaken, including the most recent meeting on March 23 in Mountshannon Community Hall, when the draft plan was presented to over 80 members of the public,” he said.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.