Sir, – Keel in Achill is home to just 256 people, yet welcomes tens of thousands of visitors during the summer season. This year, the village endured a boil water notice through the height of that season.
Yet a €1.2 million watersports facility providing free year-round hot showers, toilets and changing rooms, all connected to that same public water network, is due to be completed by the end of this year.
Still absent are a pedestrian crossing, continuous footpaths, a dedicated beach warden and effective traffic management measures throughout the village. These are the basic provisions expected in one of Mayo’s busiest tourist villages.
The funding streams and responsible agencies may differ, but residents and visitors experience one village, and the collective order of priorities is difficult to understand.
Keel can apparently be prioritised as a place in which to provide free showers, but not yet as a village in which residents and visitors can reliably drink the water, cross the road safely or navigate the seasonal traffic with any degree of ease.
The answer to mounting seasonal pressure cannot simply be infrastructure designed to accommodate still more pressure.
Tourism is vital to Achill. Investment in tourist facilities is welcome, but investment in the village that supports them must surely come first. – Yours, etc,
HELEN CALVEY,
Achill Island,
Co Mayo.