Tá áthas orm an deis seo a fháil chun ráiteas a dhéanamh sa Teach seo maidir leis an bPáirc Náisiúnta sa Bhoireann agus is mór liom go mbeidh ar mo chumas tuairimí na dTeachtaí i ndáil leis an ábhar seo a fháil.
The proposal to build a visitor centre near Mullaghmore was the subject of passionate controversy from the time it became public in 1990. The conservation bodies in the private sector as well as the National Heritage Council were ranged on one side in opposition to the proposal while the Office of Public Works was on the other side with many local supporters for the project. In retrospect one can see that a resolution was difficult in view of the absence of a proper context in which the differing arguments could be placed and coolly considered. In the absence of such a context the battle moved into the legal arena with no final decision still available. I emphasise that any proposals for the site at Mullaghmore are subject to the consent of the High Court.
In the meantime there were interesting court decisions leading to the enactment of emergency legislation and a change of practice whereby public authorities are now required to seek planning permission for their developments.
The Burren is by common consent a very special place. It is rich in archaeological remains which represent the area's continuous occupancy for over 5,000 years. This use of the land has combined with nature to produce an environment with distinctive flora and a landscape of great beauty. We would all wish, I presume, that the harmonious balance which has produced an environment of such quality and attractiveness should not be disturbed in so far as this is possible, having regard to the present day needs of the local community. It is an area of international scientific importance and I hope it will in due course be recognised as a world heritage site.
I do not want to dwell too long on the turbulent history of this case. Suffice to say that, despite the wide opposition to the proposed centre, work began on the site in November 1992 but this was brought to a halt in February 1993, following a High Court decision.
The Supreme Court ruled in May 1993 that the State is not exempt from the requirement to seek full planning permission and the then Government decided that the Office of Public Works should engage in wide consultations following which it should seek planning permission. In January 1994 the Office of Public Works made a planning application for the retention of the partially completed structures and the completed bus and car park and for the completion of the development at Mullaghmore.
With the change of Government in December 1994, the programme, A Government of Renewal, stated that the future of the proposed interpretative centres at Mullaghmore, Luggala and the Boyne Valley would be a matter for decision by Government. I immediately asked my officials to examine the options for the various centres and, in the light of this examination, I presented proposals to Government which were approved on 28 March 1995. In so far as the Burren was concerned, the Government's decision was to withdraw the planning application, which was still before Clare County Council, and to proceed with the preparation of a management plan for the Burren national park. In the meantime, a decision on the completed bus and car parks was deferred until the management plan had been completed.
I referred earlier to the question of the context in which the debate about siting the interpretative centre should be placed. It was clear to me from an early stage that it was futile trying to achieve consensus on where particular facilities should be provided without a management plan for the park which would consider fundamental issues like the park's objectives and its resources, a zoning system for the park as well as how visitors should be catered for with access, information interpretative facilities. It was also important that the national park, which is relatively small, should not be considered in isolation but should be seen in the context of the whole north Clare area.
Having appointed a steering committee to oversee the production of a management plan for the Burren National Park in the context of a conservation strategy for the north Clare area, the consultants Brady Shipman Martin were commissioned to undertake the drafting of the plan. The draft plan was completed in February 1996 and the views of the public were then sought on the proposals.
My Department has also commissioned the same consultants, Brady Shipman Martin, to carry out a survey of monuments in the Burren and to address three main objectives: the preservation and conservation of the historic sites and monuments within the Burren; the preservation of the setting of the monuments; and to cater for the tourist potential of the area by providing facilities for visitors to view and enjoy a selected number of monuments.
That report is nearing completion and I hope to have it shortly. It will be based on a site assessment of over 30 monuments in the Burren and will make recommendations for actions required to ensure visitor access to the monuments, while minimising disruption to the site and its context.
The strategy in this report and the overall strategy in the Burren National Park Management Plan are in accord with an earlier report by the same firm of consultants entitled "Tourism in the Burren, a Strategic Plan" which was sponsored by Shannon Development, Clare County Council and the Heritage Service of my Department.
We now have a comprehensive set of proposals on which to base a strategy for the protection of the natural and archaeological heritage of the Burren while providing appropriate forms of access for visitors to experience the landscape and its elements.
The consultation period for the Burren national park draft management plan expired on 16 May 1996 and I received a total of 29 submissions. Two of these were joint submissions from a number of organisations while in another instance the organisation in question attached an appendix from a consultant and this could be taken as a further submission.
I would like to thank sincerely everyone who responded to my request for observations. Most of the responses were quite detailed and clearly reflected very careful consideration and evaluation of the contents of the draft plan. I referred the submissions to the consultants, Brady Shipman Martin, for their views and I have now received these.
The consultants in their report have chosen to refer to the location where the original interpretative centre project was undertaken by the townland name of Gortlecka and I will use that name — Gortlecka — when I am referring to proposals for that site.
In broad terms the draft plan met a positive response. For instance, the Burren Action Group commented as follows:
The Burren Action Group would like to welcome the publication of the Burren National Park Study. It is the first time in Ireland that there has been such a comprehensive attempt to integrate conservation with agriculture, tourism and the provision of employment opportunities on a regional basis. The approach used in the Burren National Park study points the way forward towards the goal of sustainable development in the Irish countryside and for this the Minister is to be congratulated.
The Burren National Park Support Association has many positive comments on the recommendations in the consultants' report, such as the following:
The Burren National Park Support Association accepts the recommendation that visitor use of the Park be placed in the wider context of the North Clare area. It supports the recommendations for an integrated approach to visitor access and facilities throughout the region. This approach accords with the Tourism Strategy for the Burren (Brady Shipman Martin, 1992) with which the Association broadly agrees.
The Association furthermore concedes that the visitor/interpretative facility at Mullaghmore should not be regarded as a "stand alone" attraction on the North Clare landscape. In fact, it has on several occasions put forward recommendations which it feels would facilitate a good deal of appropriate linkage between various elements of the Burren "story".
While the support association is clearly unhappy with what it perceives to be the scale of the facilities proposed for the Gortlecka site, which it says is "little more than a flimsy bus-shelter with a few token display panels", it goes on to state its belief that Corofin should have a central role and this is, of course, provided for in the consultants' report. The following are the views expressed by the support association:
It is the view of this Association therefore that Corofin should be regarded as a key centre for the preservation and interpretation of the North Clare Story. It would also be ideally located for the creation of an archive as a repository for academic and specialist work related to the Burren as recommended at 5.22 (National Park Study). If the existing Heritage and Genealogical Centre at Corofin were to assume a wider focus to include, for example, audio-visual and literary presentations of the very rich oral literature of North Clare, then the facilities at Corofin could comprise an ensemble of interlinked elements which would constitute an important visitor complex. An important function of the facility there would be to seek to establish and promote the Burren area as a locality of research and academic excellence in a range of fields, including natural history, archaeology, folk history and rural studies as recommended in the Tourism Strategy for the Burren (page 19 Draft Strategy, 1992).
There is a somewhat similar emphasis in the comments of the Burren Action Group on the key position of Corofin. Having stated that there is a great deal of the content of the Burren National Park Study which is in full accord with strategies supported and advocated by the Burren Action Group, it says that there are certain points which it feels need further clarification, in particular in relation to the facilities at Corofin. The report states:
There is a lack of clarity in the Burren National Park Study as to the exact nature and function of the facilities which are proposed for the village. The Burren Action Group feel that the main National Park management facilities should be based at or adjacent to the village of Corofin.
I have concentrated so far on the comments of the Burren National Park Support Association and of the Burren Action Group to draw attention to the extent of common ground that exists. It is interesting that both organisations call for the Burren to be designated as a world heritage site which I hope will be achieved in the future. It is clear that they, like the others who submitted comments, have a deep concern for the conservation of the Burren and for the welfare and prosperity of the local communities. What we all have at heart is the sustainable development of the Burren region. There is very little between the various groups as to how best this can be achieved. Looked at in this broader context, the question of the scale of the facilities, if any, to be provided at the Gortlecka site should hopefully be a manageable problem.
The consultants recommended that the Gortlecka site should provide car parking to accommodate existing and projected visitor numbers and to avoid unauthorised roadside parking; toilets; staff facilities; limited visitor information; basic visitor shelter, possibly with limited interpretative material——