The ‘Clare Stages’ motor rally took place on Sunday 24 September, advertised to “transverse some of the most scenic parts of the Burren Landscape in North Clare” by the organisers (Clare Motor Club). It comprised three routes, repeated three times, totalling 110km. Sadly a co-driver was killed, near the Holy Well at Glencolumbkille, as reported on RTE News. (This followed 2 participant deaths in the recent Sligo Stages rally, and one in Kerry.) This has led to much concern in the community, and extension of sympathies to the rallyist’s family and friends.
The event was authorised to take place by Clare County Council on National Walking Day, in a special area of conservation (SAC), with the race routes and access roads using parts of designated and widely advertised Burren cycling and walking trails. It involved the closure of a significant number of local roads, including some in the Kilfenora area. Click the links below to see the routes.
• Route 1: Boston to Carran included the popular scenic viewing point above Glencolumbcille
• Route 2 wound around the back of Caherconnell, past Poulawack cairn to Noughaval; swings north towards Cahermacnaghten fort; then veers south endingon the Kilfenora-Lisdoonvarna road
• Route 3: Kennedy’s Cross to Ballynacarragh, then south to Willbrook and ends in Corofin.
The roads were cleaned well after the event, although there was some damage to road surfaces.
Residents affected either needed to vacate or were unable to move on the Sunday between 8.20am and 5.45pm, and it was reported that these roads were difficult to use on Saturday due to the 150 rally cars testing the route.
Information about the rally only came to light shortly before it took place, with no communication programme with community organisations or tourism businesses in the area, including the official visitor information point at the Burren Visitor Centre. An obscure and hard-to-interpret proposal notice was placed on the Clare County Council website here, posted in late August.
Motorsport fans were no doubt delighted at the rally’s return after four year’s absence, post-Covid.
However they were few in number as for safety and access reasons this was not a spectator event. Some local residents stated that they objected strongly to the rally when initially approached by the rally organisers, as – apart from the personal disruption caused – they regarded the use of these type of roads as completely inappropriate. Unsurprisingly there was some shock to hear the event has been given permission to go ahead among those residents actually aware of this, and even more following the tragic death that occurred.
As reported in the Irish Independent on 22 September, Clare County Council stated that the rally would bring significant economic benefit to the North Clare region. In reality, takings at most local businesses and tourist attractions were noticeably reduced. There was benefit however in Ennis at the venues used by race participants, and Clare County Council gained fee monies.
There was anger among the minority of tour guides who had actually heard about the rally, and had to cancel tours losing some €1000s. These included guides with long-established businesses leading walking and cycling tours. Other tour guides, self-guided tourists and visitors passing through did not get advance notice, and had to abandon or alter their plans.
There is of course currently widespread protest about road safety and lack of traffic management in the North Clare area, exacerbated by the tragic killing of Jerry O’Connor in Ballyvaughan. As Corofin councillor Joe Killeen said recently on Clare FM, there is pent-up frustration among community groups that their concerns about safety issues have not been respected over recent years. Adding fuel to the fire is the failure to manage the side-effects of heavily promoting the Cliffs of Moher. On top of the congestion on coast roads there is an explosive increase in traffic on the Burren interior routes that the rally used, as tourist cars and buses get guided down single-track roads by Google maps because they are still rated at 80kph; “this rally is adding insult to injury”, one resident commented.
These points of concern, and more, were aired at the recent inaugural meeting of the Transport and Road Safety working party set up by the North Clare Communities Group, formed to enable collective action by 20 village community groups. One of the topics mentioned was the degradation of local roads due to the upsurge in traffic, putting greater pressure on overstretched maintenance resources; a high-speed motor rally did not help. The meeting was not actually aware of Council officials’ approval of the rally – that was discovered later. Similar concerns were voiced by participants at a meeting on 20 September to launch a plan for a €80m expansion of the Council-owned Cliffs Visitor Centre, which appears to face widespread objections in the region.
Note also the current pressures by the National Government on local authorities to adopt responsible environmental policies. This includes reduced vehicle emissions, supporting more walking and cycling, and reducing the need for car-based tourism by greater provision of non-fossil fuel public transport. Clearly this should lead to a lively debate with Councillors about priorities.
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