FROM this Friday, opening times at Loop Head Lighthouse are being extended by two hours, to accommodate the surge in visitor numbers to the West Clare landmark.

The popular tourist attraction will remain open from 10am until 7.30pm each day until August 25. The 19th century lighthouse was opened for a third successive season in mid-March but has been open on a seven-days-a-week basis since May 23.

Clare County Council, which manages the facility in conjunction with the Commissioner of Irish Lights (CIL), confirmed more than 6,500 people have passed through the doors of the lighthouse since the beginning of June, with almost 25% from overseas.
Siobhán Garvey, marketing and development officer with  Kilrush Town Council said the Loop Head Lighthouse project has proved to be an important addition to the overall tourism product on offer in the area.

“The introduction of an exhibition to the lighthouse has also helped to raise its profile and longstanding connections with Clare’s rich maritime history,” she suggested.

The lighthouse made national headlines last year when Taoiseach Enda Kenny, whose own grandfather was a lightkeeper at Loop Head during the 1930s, and his family visited.

Dr Aleida Guevara March, the eldest daughter of revolutionary figure Ernesto “Che” Guevara, also visited in late September, while it was one of 400 lighthouses and lightships across 50 countries to participate in the 15th International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend.