Car park proposed at Mullaghmore site

CLARE County Council has received a planning application for the construction of enhanced parking facilities at the site of a former controversial and ill-fated interpretative centre in the Burren National Park.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service is seeking to construct the car park at Mullaghmore, near Corofin, on the same site as a centre that was demolished in 2001 following a protracted court battle.

The controversy over the original visitor centre and a scaled-down proposal made national headlines during the 1990s and caused major divisions in the local community.

It also resulted in fundamental changes to Irish planning laws following a Supreme Court ruling that Government agencies could not be exempt from planning laws.

The demolition of the original centre in 2001 followed a successful battle by the Burren Action Group, a collective of concerned locals who fought to maintain the natural integrity of the landscape and protect the environment, in opposing the €5.1 million Government project.

The wildlife service has lodged plans for a car park on the site of the overflow car park of the original centre to facilitate improved visitor access to the national park.

According to planning documents “the intention is to encourage low-impact, dispersed access to the national park”, cater for existing usage, improve visitor safety and congestion problems and access problems, particularly for local communities.

The application also states that, if developed, this will be the only formal car park within the national park and “is limited in size”.

The wildlife service claims the car park will cater for 27 spaces and that “no other service will be provided.

There will be no bins, picnic or toilet facilities, no water supply and no lighting”. The car park will operate from dawn to dusk on weekdays and at weekends.

The application goes on to state, “Although it is envisaged that information panels and pedestrian signage may be erected inside the site at some stage in the future, they do not form part of the present proposal”.

The wildlife service said there will be no loss of EU-designated habitats “and no significant impact on the structure and functioning of these habitats”.

The planned car park is within the East Burren Complex Special Area of Conservation and follows incremental improvements to visitor access to the Burren National Park in the recent past.

Five walking trails have been developed near the car park, while a visitor information point opened in Corofin this year.

According to the wildlife service, the car park “is required to provide parking for visitor access to the park, mainly for inspirational, recreational, educational and research purposes and to reduce the frequency of parking along the road verges that occurs at present”.

A decision is due before the end of the year.