Proposals to upgrade Dursey cable car in €7m project

Cork County Council is set to seek planning permission in the next few weeks for an iconic €7m project aimed at transforming the country’s most south-westerly island into a tourist mecca.

Sharon Corcoran, the council’s director of enterprise and tourism, said she hoped to submit plans to Bord Pleanála for the Dursey Island project in either late May or early June.

The council plans to replace the country’s only cable car, at Dursey, with two new ones and create an interpretive centre and cafe on the mainland with proper departure points for the aerial lift service.

Ms Corcoran said consultants working on behalf of the local authority are currently completing ecological and ground investigation surveys to feed into the planning submission.

The current cable car was opened by then-taoiseach Jack Lynch in 1969, primarily to ensure that islanders and their livestock were able to access the island during rough seas.

Animals had been transported on the cable car but, since 2012, have been banned for hygiene reasons.

Currently, it takes the cable car nearly 10 minutes to get across the 250 metre-wide channel on the Beara peninsula.

The council also proposes to replace the existing 70-space car park on the mainland with new parking facilities, including 100 individual spaces and a coach bus bay.

Additionally, some localised road improvements will be carried out along the R572 between Bealbarnish Gap and the cable car in order to accommodate two-way traffic at suitably spaced passing points.

“The new two-car cable system will offer greater comfort, greater capacity and increased speed of crossing to help eliminate waiting times and thus afford more visitors the opportunity to enjoy the crossing experience and the natural beauty of the island,” Ms Corcoran said.

The Mayor of County Cork, Cllr Patrick Gerard Murphy, said he was very hopeful that Fáilte Ireland will provide significant grant-aid for the cable car project.

The tourism authority has signalled more than once its interest in the project, due to it being one of the most iconic fixtures along the Wild Atlantic Way.

Ms Corcoran said she hopes construction will start on the project in either the autumn or winter of 2020 and works should take around 15 months to complete.

Fáilte Ireland has provided some grant aid already for drawing up plans for the design but further support will be sought in the event of Bord Pleanála approval

The county council held some information meetings locally with community groups in an effort to get ideas about bolstering tourism in the area. A website on the proposed project will be launched in May.

The island has just a handful of permanent residents but its population swells in the summer with holiday homes occupied.

The island, which is 6.5km long and 1.5km wide, has no shops, pubs or restaurants.