This article is from page 37 of the 2008-07-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 37 JPG
BRITISH anglers, who were once one of the mainstays of the year- round tourism business in Clare, have become a disappearing species.
In years past, happy fishermen and women from the UK and further afield could be seen on the shores of Clare’s many lakes and rivers sport- ing tight lines in every season.
TJ O’Brien of TJ’s Angling in Balli- na/Killaloe says this 1s the worst of his 15 years in business.
“Visiting anglers have all but disap- peared. It was common in years past that a group of anglers would come from a week or a couple of weeks as mates on a fishing holiday and come back again later in the year for a fam- ily holiday. Now, if they come at all, we re seeing them come for a couple of days fishing and they go elsewhere
for the family holiday”.
With his business heavily reliant on visiting anglers, TJ has been anxious to find out what has prompted the Keren labuee
“We’ve asked those who have re- turned and a lot of them say access has become a problem. The loss of the Heathrow slot has certainly ex- acerbated things. They also say that things here have become very expen- sive and that is a factor, along with exchange rate changes.”
Rita Boner has been running a bed and breakfast business in Killaloe for the past 30 years and she is also seeing her quietest summer.
“There is no angling business any more. In the last four or five years, we’ve seen fewer and fewer anglers, and this year I can count the numbers on the fingers of one hand. I have one gentleman who comes every few
weeks and stays for a couple of days, but my doors would have closed a long time ago if I was relying on the angling business.”
She believes a combination of factors are keeping anglers away. ‘“There’s currency rates, and air fares are so cheap that people are just go- ing to the sun,” she said.
Aside from those UK anglers who used to come to Clare via Heathrow, Rita does not think she has lost fur- ther business because of the cessa- tion of the route.
“T wouldn’t normally have gotten a lot of business through Heathrow, but things are desperately quiet general- ly. We should be full – it’s the second week of July but we’re not.”