This article is from page 4 of the 2011-08-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
MORE than two decades after the beginning of bitter fight to construct an interpretive centre at Mullaghmore in the South Burren, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has established its first tourism base to serve the world famous national park.
Up until last month the Burren was the only one of Ireland’s six national park’s not to be served by either a information point or an interpretive centre operated by the NPWS. That all changed two week ago when three Burren guides were employed by the NPWS to offer tourism advice and free walking tours from a base in Corofin.
Plans to construct a controvertial interpretive centre at Mullaghmore, which was to be built the Office of Public Works (OPW) and managed by the NPWS, were abandoned in 2000, after a nine-year legal battle to decide planning permission for the site. The new NPWS facility is currently operating from a section of the Clare Heritage and Genealogy Centre in Corofin and poses none of the environmental threats which prompted the campaign against the Mullaghmore Centre.
According to head guide Sheila Murphy, visitor numbers to the facility have been good throughout its first two weeks in operation, with an encouraging number of visitors and local people using the service.
“We have six national parks in Ireland and the Burren National Park is the only one that hasn’t has an information point or an interpretive centre and this is the first year that we have an information point available to the public,” she said. “It is nice to have a place that both locals and tourist can come in and get information and have that service available to them. A lot of the shops in the village and the locality are often asked for information about the Burren and the National Park and they have nowhere really to direct them to.
“I think that this is a complementary development to the Burren Centre in Kilfenora. At the moment we are just an information point but there are plans to have more interpretation in the centre in the future. The Burren is a big area and everyone want to work together to promote it.
“We have three guides in the centre and we can organise free walks on demand if people come in and ask for that and we will also host a free walk every Sunday, which is more aimed at families. It’s a free service and open to anyone who want to use it.”
The new NPWS information point will continue, seven days a week, until the end of September but plans are already in place to run the service for the entire summer season in 2012.
The information point is open from Monday to Friday from 9.30 to 6pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 6pm.