An inspection carried out of a popular walking trail at the Cliffs of Moher describes how some visitors were ill-equipped for the conditions; that others are ignoring warning signs while participants at a humanist wedding stood close to the cliff edge with their backs to the sea.
The Cliffs of Moher stand 702ft (214m) at their highest point and around 390ft (120m) at their most southern end at Hags Head. A safety review was carried out by Sport Ireland in mid-August following two tragedies earlier in the year.
In May, a young woman died after she fell from the Cliffs of Moher. She was in her early 20s and a college student from Belgium who was studying in Scotland. She had been visiting the Cliffs of Moher with three friends when, it’s believed, she lost her footing and fell.
On July 28th, a body recovered from the sea north of Doolin on the sixth day of a multi-agency search for a 12-year-old boy. The child is understood to have fallen from the cliff after becoming separated from his mother while visiting the area.
The inspector’s report found that many walkers were ignoring warning signs, climbing over flagstone barriers, and making their way towards the cliff edge.
The report said: “In summary it was observed that walkers were unprepared for this grade of walk [and] warning signs were unheeded. The volume of walkers was too high for some sections of the trail and unofficial events were being held close to the cliff edge.”
The report said that the facilitation of events such as wedding ceremonies near the cliff edge gives “the impression that these are officially sanctioned events” and this in turn led people to believe that it was “safe and acceptable” to go off the official trail and towards the cliff edge.
The report also states that there are sections of the trail where it was not obvious which was the “official” or “unofficial” route and people could easily stray onto the wrong one.
“In some locations the official trail was too narrow to cater for the volume of walkers travelling in both directions making the unofficial path, which is often wider, more attractive,” inspectors found.
The report highlights several locations where people were most likely to stray off course, sometimes deliberately and while “engaging in risky behaviour”.
It said the trail was unsuitable for the type of people it was attracting and that the inspector saw multiple examples of “dangerous [or] risky behaviour”.
The inspector’s view was that the trail “be closed immediately” to make it safe, according to a copy of the report that was released under Freedom of Information laws.
The report added: “Sport Ireland Outdoors acknowledge the severity of the safety issues identified and note the comment of the inspector above. However, it said the large volume of visitors and the high quality of some sections made it possible for operators to keep some of the trail open.”
“Given the unsuitability of this trail for the type of user it is attracting, the increase in volume of visitors accessing the trail at any one time and the dangerous/risky behaviour witnessed during inspection in spite of the numerous warning signs at all trailheads and at multiple locations along the trail, it is the opinion of the inspector that the entire trail be closed immediately in order to facilitate any upgrading works necessary to make the trail safe,” the report adds.
