Call for more funds for Mayo beaches

A Westport councillor has said it has been far too long since Fáilte Ireland announced a round of funding for beach facilities in Mayo.

Cllr Peter Flynn told a recent meeting of Mayo County Council's Environment and Climate Change Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) that it was great to see the beach facilities at Carrowmore Beach in Louisburgh and Keel in Achill "coming to a close", but more were needed. 

"We would hope the programme can be extended to beaches such as Old Head, Mulranny and Bertra, which are really in need of upgrades to public facilities. However, we haven’t heard any announcement of new schemes and this is something we should be talking to Fáilte Ireland about, as to when will the next tranche of funding come onstream. It was 2021 when Keel and Carrowmore were funded so we are way behind time to have more beaches in Mayo done.” 

SPC Cathaoirleach Cllr Harry Barrett said: “I think our beaches are a major part of our tourism product and we market them very heavily, so the onus is on us to spend appropriately and make sure we have the finest facilities we can afford.” 

The council's Acting Head of Environment Tom McDonnell said he would engage with the local authority's tourism section to see are there any grants for outdoor facilities. Cllr Flynn proposed the SPC write to Fáilte Ireland to ascertain when the next round of funding will be announced and this was seconded by SPC chairperson Cllr Harry Barrett.

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.