Dursey seeks tourist business
The possibilities are endless after it was confirmed — during the wettest summer amid the biggest recession in living memory — more than 7,000 people paid to take the country’s only cable car connecting the mainland to an island.
Dursey Island’s cable car operated three times a day, until Cork County Council extended its operating hours from July to September, from 9am to 8pm daily.
In all, 7,111 tourists visited Dursey which has a population of less than a dozen.
A total of 5,491 adults paid the €8 return fare, while 1,620 children travelled at a cost of €2 each. The council made nearly €50,000 from the exercise which proved profitable.
Assistant county manager James Fogarty said the council was anxious to train up more people to operate the cable car: “In order for the farming and island community to survive they will need tourism. There’s obviously an increase in the number of people using it, the numbers are healthy.”
Council officials were told by Cllr Dermot Sheehan they should do more to publicise Dursey Island as a tourist destination.
Meanwhile, Mr Fogarty said the health and safety ruling preventing island farmers transporting livestock via cable car was being looked at and he hoped to have a report ready by the end of this month.
