This article is from page 24 of the 2008-09-30 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 24 JPG
has learned.
Speaking during his visit to Clare on Friday, the Minister for Commu- nity, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Ea- mon O Cuiv said that his department would like to take a leading role on a project to reopen the railway as a
tourist location.
“There is huge potential in cycle based tourism in Clare. Cyclists want to be out in the countryside but they don’t want to have to battle their way around traffic on small country roads. That is why I think that the idea of opening the old West Clare Railway track as a cycling way is an idea with huge potential,” he said.
“We would need the good will of a lot of landowners but I feel that this project is a very viable one that the
department can support. The com- munity has to be behind the project. If they are really concerned about the challenges facing the tourist industry in Clare then this project is one that they can take a positive step with. “If people can take a larger view and pool their resources on this I be- lieve it can be achieved. Clare has always been at the forefront in terms of innovation in the tourism sector – right back from the early days at Bunratty and place like that. If we
all work together then this slump is something that we can overcome.”
O’Cuiv admitted that areas of Clare had been under funded in the past but said that he viewed this as a chal- lenge for the future rather than a vote of no confidence.
“It is true that things have not been developed to their full potential but I would take a totally different view on this that calling it a failure. We are where we are in terms of history, and I think that it is great to see that
there are things that are still to be done,’ he said.
“There is no point of focussing on the developments that were not com- pleted in the past, I would always prefer to focus on the challenge of completing these development in the future. We would be in a bad situa- tion if we woke up one morning and discovered that all that had to be de- veloped was already developed, that would be a very depressing situation indeed.”