East Clare tourism damage from Midlands project?

FEARS have been raised that tourism-related enterprises in Lough Derg will be hit if Dublin City Council approves the creation of Ireland’s first dual-purpose reservoir in the Midlands, to facilitate the abstraction of up to 350 million gallons of water daily in 2040.

Councillor Johnny Flynn queried the impact of the proposed reservoir at Garryhinch Bog, County Offaly, which is expected to attract over one million tourists annually. It is claimed it could take business away from East Clare where tourism from Lough Derg is heavily relied on.
“There needs to be a counter-balance to the new eco project in the Midlands. counties like Clare are being asked to give up a valuable resource such as water, which is expensive to produce for drinking purposes without any community gain.
“This is adding insult to injury for Clare people and needs to be addressed before this water abstraction project is approved,” he said.
Under the controversial plan, huge volumes of water would be abstracted from Ardnacrusha during periods of high flow and flooding and would be piped to the new reservoir at Garryhinch for treatment and subsequently piped for use to the Dublin region.
According to a presentation by RPS to Clare county councillors at a strategic policy committee on Monday, the new eco-tourism facilities are being modelled on similar facilities created at Rutland in the United Kingdom by Anglian Water, where bird watching, angling and water sports have generated a major economic spin-off for the region.
The new Midlands project is likely to include dingy sailing, windsurfing, kite-surfing, canoeing and kayaking, bird watching, ecology zones and  angling, as well as cycling, walking and jogging.
Councillor Flynn has proposed that the nine local authorities who will benefit from receiving water supplies from Lough Derg be levied with an additional tax, which should be redistributed to councils in the Mid-West, like Clare County Council, for expenditure on improving existing water and sewerage facilities.
He suggested one cent per cubic metre of water used should be levied on local authorities in the Dublin region.
Councillor Pat Burke, who lives by the lake near Mountshannon, asked what guarantees would be put in place to ensure water is not taken from the lake during a drought period similar to the one experienced in 2005.
Councillor Michael Begley wondered what impact the project would have on regular flooding experienced in parts of South-East Clare.
Project manager, Gerry Geoghegan from RPS Consultants, who are managing the project, confirmed the issue of community gain for counties like Clare would have to be addressed by An Bord Pleanála and noted it isn’t part of their brief.
He assured councillors that a monitoring system would be put in place to ensure water isn’t taken from Lough Derg during periods of low flow or drought and the project wouldn’t affect flooding issues in South-East Clare.
He said the consultants decided to recommend taking water from Lough Derg rather than Lough Ree because the former is the most sustainable option when assessed under a number of criteria.
He explained storage facilities would initially accommodate at least two months average supply requirements, rising to five months limiting or eliminating abstraction from Lough Derg during periods of low flow.