This article is from page 15 of the 2014-01-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 15 JPG
A ROADWAY used by more than a million tourists each year to travel between the Cliffs of Moher and Lahinch will not survive a month, if urgent work is not carried out.
The road, which is located on the Lahinch side of Liscannor village, was badly undermined during last week’s storm and, according to Patrick Blake of the Liscannor Har- bour Committee, will not survive another large swell.
With large sea swells expected in February and March, the road will be lucky to make it to the summer of work is not carried out soon.
“We have a very serious problem with the road which has been completely undermined and the Cliffs of Moher road is in danger of being closed. A stone wall that was protecting the road has been totally wiped out. If I was driving on that road, and a lorry was coming in the other direction, I would not keep going. It is that dangerous. All that is left there is mud holding the road together and it is a drop of 30 or 40 feet. We have a high tide coming in February and a couple in March and that could be the end of it.
“The pier [in Liscannor] itself, which is over 200 years old, has also been badly damaged. The power of the tide also created a couple of very large craters, which will have to be repaired.
“The Clathane Road is also very badly damaged. Farm land is not even flooded, it is covered with stones. The storm came like a Tsunami and wiped everything before it.”
More than 200 people turned out in Liscannor last Saturday to help restore the local pier and harbour following the devastation brought by Storm Catherine.
“It was like a group of locusts moving across the place. They swept across the place going unreal hard work all the way. We have five tractors there and they removed tonnes and tonnes of seaweed out of the way,” continued Patrick.
“The work done was amazing. We had people from the Surf Club in Lahinch and people coming from all over the country to help. It shows how people come together in a crisis. It was an amazing day, the atmosphere was so positive and everyone coming together to help.”