Objections see completion date for €6m Doolin pier delayed until 2013

SURFERS’ opposition to contentious plans for a €6 million pier at Doolin has helped push the completion date for the project back to 2013.

Yesterday, business and tourism interests expressed their disappointment that the new pier will not be in place for the 2012 tourist season.

Tom Tiernan, the Clare County Council official charged with overseeing the project, could not state when work will commence, stating that this is dependent on statutory approvals.

The council’s original time-scale anticipated that the pier — demanded by local tourism interests for the past 40 years — would be in place by the end of 2011.

Instead, Mr Tiernan said that it wouldn’t be possible to commence construction on some key components of the project prior to Spring 2012 at the earliest because of sea conditions.

He said it will take nine to 12 months to complete the pier, adding that he was “hopeful” that the pier will be in place for the 2013 tourist season.

He said: “This is a very significant project for the economy of the north Clare area and it is unfortunate that it has been slowed down by third-party agendas which are outside of the council’s control.”

Work commencing on the project is reliant on the council securing a foreshore licence from the Department of the Environment.

Mr Tiernan confirmed that the council has yet to provide additional information to the department on the application.

In total, the department has received 176 submissions in relation to the council’s foreshore application with the vast majority from surfing associations and groups opposed to the pier in its current location.

Earlier this year, members of Clare County Council gave their unanimous planning approval to upgrading the Clare gateway to the Aran Islands.

The councillors gave the pier the go-ahead in spite of warnings from surfers that the proposal would destroy world-class waves near the pier.

Mr Tiernan told the March meeting that work on the pier would commence in four to six months and be complete in 2012.

Doolin tourist provider and officer with the Doolin Coastguard Unit, Mattie Shannon and local ferry operator, Bill O’Brien, described the news as “disappointing.”