COUNCILLOR Joe Garrihy has called on Clare County Council and partners Fáilte Ireland to focus as a priority on the regeneration and investment in the towns and villages of North Clare included in the Burren Discovery Trail, writes Conor Clohessy.
The towns of Corofin, Kilfenora and Lisdoonvarna are key, Councillor Garrihy stated, to the survival and sustainability of living communities, heritage and services associated with their adjacent rural catchments.
He claimed they are in urgent need of focus and investment while the current opportunities of funding and objectives of the “Our Rural Future” are available.
Councillor Garrihy added that while he supports and appreciates all of the beautiful projects happening around Clare, he worries that most are south of Ennistymon, and has a deep concern for the state of anything north of that.
“Unfortunately, you’ll find a lot of town centre dereliction in these areas, and a lot of identity that has been lost for many, many years due to unintended neglect and focus elsewhere.
“We have a wonderful team in Clare County Council that can achieve a lot and are working on many extensive projects. Maybe that is part of the challenge.”
Councillor Garrihy pointed out an upcoming strategy in which the council will be monopolising the main tourist attractions in the county, however the regions he is concerned with do not have such attractions.
In that context, Councillor Garrihy’s proposal is aligned with the West Clare MD’s discussions around the county development plan and how the council can make towns and villages sustainable and viable into the future.
For this, he suggests that the strategies implemented are within the municipal district’s own control, which will mean focusing investment in them on a council level.
Councillor Garrihy continued: “It will mean investing in their public realm – which has gone downhill over a number of years – in their individual stories, in the regeneration of their heritage buildings, and tying them into our tourist plan.
“For instance, the secondary school in Lisdoonvarna were looking for funding to upgrade classrooms and were told by the department to look for a potential new site. Very encouraging – the state, in all its arms, need to focus or lose our rural future.”
He claimed that a signal needs to be given to private and public investment, to resources, schools and people considering relocation to North Clare that there is a viable rural lifestyle still present.
“I welcome the work gone into the Cliffs of Moher, but there’s nobody living there. I welcome the lovely painted doors in our communities, but they don’t mean regeneration.
“There are wonderful Greenways being built all over Clare, but not here. Tourism is not the destination, but the tool we use to make sustainable communities, and it has to come alongside commitment.”