Bedraggled Owenahincha - What happened our ‘Vegas’?

In the glory days of the 70s and 80s Owenahincha was a buzzing holiday hotspot. Tommy Barker visits a very different place today, yet there may be signs of a brighter future for this faded beauty

ON most beaches, the tide comes in and goes out on a twice-daily basis. At West Cork’s bedraggled Owenahincha, it appears the spot is washed-up, stuck at low ebb.

But, locals recall “it was like Las Vegas here in the 1970s. There were three hotels, holiday homes and chalets in the dunes, two caravan parks so full you couldn’t get into them, the place was heaving all summer long”.