Green light for Mountshannon seaplane site

Clare County Council has given the go-ahead for the operators of a seaplane business to develop a floating pontoon and slipway in Mountshannon.

Harbour Air Ireland Ltd applied for planning permission to install a floating pontoon, mooring anchors, access gangway, reinforced concrete slipway and inspection hardstanding, workstore, parking area and associated infrastructure for the berthing and inspection of a seaplane at Dooras, Mountshannon.
The decision, which was made on Friday, is subject to nine planning conditions and has come as a surprise to locals in the area, arising from the strenuous objections lodged by residents and local groups.
A total of 12 objections were lodged with Clare County Council, while submissions were also received outlining concerns from groups such as An Taisce, Waterways Ireland and the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board, as well as local angling and gun clubs.
It is understood that more than one appeal is expected to go to An Bord Pleanála arising from the decision.
Among the conditions of the planning permission is that measures be taken to preserve the local ecology and the prevention of damage to the proposed natural area and special protection at the location.
It also stipulates that the seaplane operation hours in winter months would be from 8.30am until 4.15pm and during the summer from 6.45am to 8.30pm.
The local authority also ordered that an oil-spill kit be kept on site and that ring buoys and associated stands be installed at the subject site prior to any commercial activity taking place.
A planning contribution of €9,883.63 is also required to be paid to the council.
Harbour Flights Ireland will operate the seaplane service. In a statement on their website, the directors state, “The Mountshannon seaplane base has been granted planning. It is a great day for the people of Mountshannon who have, in allowing Harbour Flights’ planning application to proceed without further objections, began a great step in further developing its tourist industry and placing Mountshannon on the world map as being the first in the country to have a seaplane operation.”
Whitegate councillor Pat Burke said he received the news cautiously. “If it operates as it did during the test flights, people shouldn’t have concerns, equally they shouldn’t have concerns if they comply with the development conditions. It would have to give a tourism boost to the area. The tourism business is down in Mountshannon.
“The B&Bs are not busy and whether people would travel on the seaplane and stay overnight is up to the B&Bs and it is up to those people in the sector to provide the service and market this to try to keep people in the area,” he said.
He also stressed that as a public representative, he had no influence in the planners’ decision in this case.
“In the current economic climate it must be welcomed. I saw it and I went up on it and I saw how it lands, it just glides in. I saw jet skis in Mountshannon over the weekend that were not very pleasant in comparison and I don’t see anybody objecting to them.
“There are massive cruisers that are well able to find their way through the water and are not bringing too much to the area,” he noted.
Councillor Burke added that if the tourism sector in the region doesn’t embrace it that business “will fizzle away anyway”.“It is up to the people to jump on board now if they want to increase their revenue,” he concluded.