A new plan designed to establish a sustainable management structure for the Cliffs of Moher Coastal Walk has made 39 recommendations for the attraction’s future, including alterations to the Northern Trail.
The now published Tobin Report has recommended that Clare County Council assume management for the entire route.
At present, the ownership of the Cliffs of Moher Coastal Walk is a hybrid model, with Clare County Council owning the 1000m central section at the Cliffs of Moher Experience.
The remainder of the Coastal Walk is privately owned by 36 separate landowners, comprising 10.8km out of 11.4km is privately owned by 36 separate landowners.
The Southern Trail from Liscannor to Hags Head remains closed pending safety works as well as a 500m section on the Northern Trail one kilometre north of the Visitor Centre.
Any plan to carry out improvements to sections of the trail must be agreed by each and every landowner on the section in question, In this way every land owner has an effective veto over improvement plans.
In 2019 agreement was reached between Clare County Council and the 7 landowners to pay an annual licence payment of €7,650 per landowner for a period of 4years (2020 to 2023 inclusive).
As part of this agreement, the landowners agreed to allow Clare County Council to carry out upgrade works.
In 2024 the agreement covering this temporary licence payment timed out.
According to the report, the payments received by landowners in this section were based on sound judgement as they reflected the need to upgrade the central portion of the Coastal Walk due to higher usage, however this has led to a sense of inequity amongst landowners that lie outside this zone
To overcome this, the Tobin Report has made 39 recommendations, but not before identifying a series of problems.
It states there is no coherent visitor journey associated with the Cliffs Of Moher Coastal Walk (COMCW), including limited pre-visit information and no booking systems, visitors have difficulty distinguishing between the official path and unofficial (unsafe) areas, official car parks provide no visitor services such as toilets and are served by poor signage and that there’s no warning or safety awareness signage exists at certain points where visitors are required to take extra care.
The report also found a number of factors that exacerbate the risk of fatalities at Cliffs of Moher Coastal Walk, including that for long stretches there is a fenceline in place, but users of the trail have to walk on the seaward side of the fenceline and given that the Cliffs of Moher is a world-renowned attraction, first time visitors will assume that the entirety of the offering is safe.
Online reviews of the Coastal Walk and images of unauthorised wedding ceremonies dangerously close to the edge were also identified for giving a false impression of safety.
To this end the report considers an alternative route for the Northern trail that would incorporate the Old Liscannor to Doolin road at an estimated cost of €420,000.
While the future management of the trail outside of landowner costs is expected to cost €460,000 annually.
The report has proposed options for securing operational control of lands, that new models for payments to landowners be put in place and that the Cliffs of Moher Coastal Walk be removed from the Walks Scheme.
It’s recommended Clare County Council will manage, operate, market and maintain the Cliffs of Moher Coastal Walk, that will be overseen by a dedicated board of expertise under a new model.
A full time Coastal Walk Manager would be employed and would have access to maintenance personnel and contractor to carryout bigger maintenance requirements and upgrade work.
The report also noted that of the visitors it surveyed at the attraction last year, just 7% had stayed overnight in Clare.
