Burren Connect has organised a series of public meetings on a number of topics where public consultation is an important part of the process.
Signage & Branding (see the Environment section of this website, under Signage)
The issue of providing a safer and more effective signage system for the Burren is one that has an impact on local settlements and businesses. The proposal to develop a brand for the Burren to accompany the signage plan became a topic of debate during the summer of 2007. A series of public meetings were organised during May and June 2007 and were held in Corrofin (May 15th and 13 attendees), Ennis (May 16th and 5 attendees), Ballyvaghan ( May 16th and 13 attendees) Ennistymon (North Clare Area Network Meeting, May 29th and 10 attendees) , Carran Research Centre (23rd June and approx 13 attendees) and Kilfenora ( July 12th and approx 30 attendees). The outcome of these meetings was that a more effective signage plan was needed for the Burren, that the current situation was chaotic, unsafe and counterproductive, that the limits of the Burren should be defined by its necklace of settlements, and that a Burren Brand was unnecessary.
The development of a strategy for the Coast Road between Doolin and Ballyvaghan was also informed by a number of public meetings. These meetings were held in Ballyvaghan (Nov 26th) and Doolin (Dec 11th). A series of closed meeting were also held with landowners. (see the Environment section of this website, under Coast Road Traffic Management Strategy).
Ecotourism has attracted a lot of interest amongst businesses and visitors, as shown in the Survey carried out last summer (see the Tourism section of this site, under Research, for more details). Members of committees working with Burren Connect were invited to visit the Greenbox area, marketed as Ireland’s first Ecotourism destination (www.greenbox.ie), to meet with administrators and business people involved in this initiative. The Greenbox representatives were in turn invited to a public meeting/workshop in Kilfenora ( May 20th 2008 and 25 attendees) where ecotourism was discussed and certification systems and training programmes were presented. A further public meeting was organised to agree a way forward, this was held in Lisdoonvarna ( June 26th 2008 ). Click for minutes of the meeting.
The Flaggy Shore and New Quay area has been experiencing increasing visitor numbers in recent years, placing increased pressure on local amenities and infrastructure. With the help of a number of local people, Burren Connect organised two public meetings in 2008 to discuss the development of a visitor management plan for the area. Both meetings ( may 19th and July 7th and 36 and 44 attendees respectively) were very well attended and the discussions were informative and positive.). A working group was elected to liaise between Burren Connect and the community (see Committees in this section of the web site).
The proposal to apply for UNESCO Geopark Status has been mooted for a few years. It became part of Burren Connects brief to investigate this further and with the assistance of the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) and the European Geopark Network, a public meeting was held in Ennistimon (July 24th 2008, 25 attendees) to give information on the proposal. Dr. Pat O’Connor, GSI, outlined his organisation’s interest and support for the proposal and Dr. Patrick McKeever gave a presentation on the Geopark status and network. (A copy of his presentation will be made available shortly). Further discussions on this topic will be organised by Burren Connect over the next year. See the Geopark section of this website more details.
