Tourism on agenda at Leader seminar

IN their ongoing effort at sustained engagement throughout the county, Clare Local Development Company (CLDC) through Leader will host their third regional seminar in Doonbeg Hall next Wednesday from 10am to 1pm.
A total of four seminars are taking place around the county on varying dates to encourage, develop and nurture non-agriculture enterprise in Clare.
The theme for the West Clare leg is Activity and Tourism. Leader has played a role in supporting eco-tourism, marine tourism, activity tourism, visitor centres and food tourism projects throughout Clare. Many of the projects will showcase their business at the seminar in Doonbeg.
“They are here not only to promote their business but be available to any member of the public who might be interested in finding out how to go about starting a new business. The seminars focus is on “peer-to-peer” learning and cross-fertilisation of ideas,” explained Bridgette Brew, rural enterprise animator with CLDC.
The keynote address will be given by Paddy Matthews, who joined Fáilte Ireland in 2006 and is the destination development manager. He is responsible for the discharge of the authority’s role as a prescribed body in the planning process. He is currently project manager with the Wild Atlantic Way project, which involves developing a touring route between Donegal and West Cork along the west coast.
“The Clare coastline and, crucially, access to the Atlantic Way via Shannon Airport have to be central to the development of the Wild Atlantic Way project. We are privileged to have Paddy introduce this ambitious national project so early in its own development to us in Doonbeg. There will be many tourism opportunities spinning from this initiative,” Ms Brew predicted.
Other speakers will include Helen Connelly, MD of Celtic Roots and founding member of Ballinahown Craft Village in Offaly.
The Celtic Roots studio, which is a co-operative company, was established in 1991. At the time, due to an oversupply from Bord na Móna of old bog timber, Celtic Roots saw an opening to develop a wood-carving enterprise to train and upskill apprentice carvers to sculpt pieces associated with the bog out of the unused waste timber.
Other contributors will include Eileen Mulcahy and her husband, Pádraig, who set up Kilkee Thalassotherapy Centre in June 1999. Eileen has a great love of the sea, which grew after joining Kilkee Sub Aqua Club. While diving, she found all the varieties of seaweed fascinating and began to study them further, their health beneficial properties and their ability to survive at different depths.
This is where the idea for setting up a seaweed bath centre grew. Eileen also remembered her grandmother going to Lisdoonvarna every September for spa treatments and how she had benefited from them. Pádraig collects the seawater and harvests it on a daily basis from April to September.
For any further information on the CLDC event, see www.cldc.ie or call 065 6866800.
Meanwhile, a meeting with a view to bringing tourism interests from all communities in the West Clare area together was held on Tuesday in Kilkee. It is envisaged that a West Clare Tourism Network, with the goal of working together to promote the West Clare area as one clear destination, will be established.