The Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Ms de Valera, yesterday officially opened a visitor centre for the Burren that is expected to attract tens of thousands of tourists to the area.
After contributing £660,000 in funding to the Kilfenora-based project, the Minister said the centre would play a major part in increasing public appreciation of the national park and of the wider Burren.
The opening came four months after the demolition of the ill-fated interpretative centre at Mullaghmore in the Burren National Park.
Making reference to the Mullaghmore controversy that caused bitterness in the community over the past decade, Ms de Valera said: "We have had a lot of division in Clare over the years about how to provide visitor access to the national park, and to properly control that access.
"In going forward, we must look forward, not backwards, and carefully reflect on what is best in overall terms."
She added: "This process will take time, but I think that we need to take that time to evaluate things properly and arrive at the best available decision."
The Minister said she is shortly to invite tenders for an analysis of all the options that may exist throughout the whole north Clare area for the provision of public access to the Burren National Park, and for control of that access. Her Department is currently drawing up the terms of reference for the analysis.
The centre at Kilfenora offers many of the attractions that were originally intended to form part of the ill-fated Mullaghmore project.
The new centre will focus upon the ecology and geology of the Burren.
