This article is from page 16 of the 2012-08-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
A NEW constitution has been drafted for the people of the Burren – a document which, it is hoped, will help preserve the environment and way of life of the area for future generations. After more than two years of consultation with the local people, the first draft of the Burren Charter was released last week. The charter contains a set of aims for all sections of the community involved in the area and the hope is that the entire local population will sign up to uphold it.
The draft document was compiled by the BurrenBeo Trust, The Burren Farming for Conservation Group, Burren Connect, Burren IFA and both Clare and Galway County Councils.
“This has been developed through contact with the local community and it is about the people who live here deciding what they want for the future and what they can do to make this happen,” said Áine Bird of the Burrenbeo Trust.
“This is a draft charter at the moment and a lot of research has gone into it. But it is still a working document and we really want to the local people to get stuck into the document and tell us if they think we are going in the right direction.
“We need to get the community’s input into this and for them to tell us if we are going in the right direction with this or not.”
It is unclear at present whether members of the general public in the Burren will be asked to physically sign up to the Burren Charter once it is completed but the charter will have no legal standing.
“We are already working on different projects that have come about through the work already done on the charter.
“One of these is a community festival for the Burren which will take place in October and should be a great event but we are also working on a series of recordings of the farm- ing tradition with the Cuimhneamh an Chláir,” said Áine. “We are also looking at creating a one-stop-shop resource centre for the people of the Burren and also an audit of the heritage courses which are available in the Burren to see is there a gap in the market. This isn’t just a book exercise, things are going to happen ot of this.”
Anyone who wants to comment on the Burren Charter can download it at Burrenbeo.com or in the North Clare libraries.