Picture: Valerie O’Sullivan
THEY might be fabled in story and celebrated in song but just two per cent of all visitors to Killarney every year take in a trip on the world famous lakes.
That was the startling statistic revealed by Mayor Michael Gleeson at a meeting of the Killarney Municipal District Council at which he called on all stakeholders to maximise the potential of the jewel in the town’s tourism crown.
Mayor Gleeson said the council should join forces with tourism interests to tap into the “enormous potential” of the lakes which are of fundamental importance to what Killarney has to showcase.
“The present level of their use by visitors is a minute percentage of all who come to visit,” he said.
The mayor said when he was a primary schoolteacher, he was introduced to the beauty and lure of the lakes by a teaching colleague in the Presentation Monastery, the late John O’Mahoney.
Inspired by that, Cllr Gleeson then brought his own students on school tours on the famous Gap of Dunloe trip, travelling by boat from Ross Castle to Lord Brandon’s Cottage and completing the great outdoor journey through the Gap on foot before the “tired but happy” pupils were collected by their parents.
Many school tours these days are “all about buying Taytos and slugging lemonade,” Cllr Gleeson noted.
Picture: Valerie O’Sullivan
Council officials, in response, said the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has committed to a tourism interpretative master plan to facilitate public access to the park for recreation and enjoyment.
Current activities allowed on the Lakes of Killarney include boating, fishing, kayaking, rowing and swimming and, officials stressed, any proposal for additional access to or activities on the lakes would have to be subject “an appropriate assessment screening” and, possibly, a full environmental impact assessment.
“One of the key attributes of the Killarney National Park and its environs, including the lakes, is the sense of tranquillity and this must be considered in terms of any increase in activity or usage,” council management stressed.
Kerry County Council is working closely with the NPWS and other stakeholders on a number of initiatives, including the Lough Lein Loop Walk and the Fossa Way.
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