Pier will damage ‘crown jewel’ of waves, say surfers

Surfers claimed yesterday that Clare County Council did not do enough to show its planned €8m Doolin pier will not have a negative impact on “the jewel in the crown” of Irish surfing.

At a Bord Pleanála oral hearing in Ennistymon, Tom Doidge Harrison of the Irish Surfing Association and West Coast Surf Club said members did not have confidence that the council’s wave modelling data represents what will really happen to the Crab Island wave when the pier is in place.

At present, 70,000 to 80,000 ferry passengers a year use the existing Doolin pier. However, it cannot be accessed at low tide and, last year, lost 30 to 40 days’ business to bad weather.