Planned €10m Dursey Island visitor centre to go before judicial review

Friends of the Irish Environment appealed the proposals, claiming it was "undesirable on multiple grounds"

The plan includes permission for an “extensive glass-fronted visitor centre with a gift shop and 84-person cafe on the mainland with parking for 80 cars and buses. Picture: Denis Minihane

Plans to build a €10m visitor centre for Dursey Island will go before a judicial review, the High Court has ruled.

Permission has been granted to Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) to bring the review.

FIE, an environmental activist group, said the proposed plans brought by Cork County Council and Fáilte Ireland to An Bord Pleanála were “undesirable on multiple grounds”. The plan was also appealed by An Taisce and Birdwatch Ireland.

The plan would see the current six-person cable car replaced “with a two-cars desynchronised reversible cable car system capable of carrying 650 people an hour”.

The plan also includes permission for an “extensive glass-fronted visitor centre with a gift shop and 84-person cafe on the mainland with parking for 80 cars and buses”.

Road 'unsuitable'

In appealing it, FIE, An Taisce and Birdwatch Ireland said it was “undesirable” due to the “ecological sensitivity of Dursey” as well as the narrow stretch of road linking it to the national network making it “unsuitable for a proposal of this scale.”

FIE said the objections centred on the protection of the Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area for Birds, in particular the rare choughs.

Birdwatch Ireland said that there has been a 30% drop in the numbers of choughs – a crow-like bird with a red beak and feet.

Tony Lowes, Friends of the Irish Environment, which has been granted permission for a

“The lack of conservation objectives for the site and the lack of an existing visitor management plan or SPA [Special Protection Area} management plan means that there is no pathway for long term chough conservation through which the proposed development could fit,” said Birdwatch Ireland.

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An Taisce suggested that “the model for the future of tourism investment in West Cork should be non-car-based and promote longer stays accommodated in locations to a level commensurate with the capacity of the host environment rather than the high-volume car or bus-based day trip model upon which the subject project is based”.

FIE also highlighted how An Bord Pleanála's inspector twice recommended refusal citing the flaws in the appropriate assessment.

The group cites the inspector as saying he was “not satisfied beyond reasonable scientific doubt, that adverse effects on the integrity of the Beara Peninsula SPA or the Kenmare River SAC [Special Area of Conservation] can be excluded.”

'Inexplicable irrationality'

An Bord Pleanála said it “accepted and adopted the Appropriate Assessment carried out in the Inspectors Report” and approved the proposal, which FIE Director Tony Lowes said was “an inexplicable irrationality”.

Cork County Council said that it respects all statutory processes and will await the outcome of this process.

It comes as the council confirmed the cable car service will be paused from April 1 to November to facilitate essential works after the towers suffered damage during recent storms.