The Downside of Success – Coping with our increasing tourist numbers…

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Over the past number of years, Northern Ireland’s tourism industry has maintained a steady growth and our visitor attractions have continued to become more popular than ever. These high levels of tourism are a relatively new phenomenon for the region and perhaps not one we have yet learnt how to deal with properly. In 2017 there were an estimated 4.9 million overnight trips in Northern Ireland, the highest estimates on record. Many of our most popular visitor attractions are purpose-built …

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NI Tourism Minister: “I recently had discussions with the chief executive of Tourism Ireland and expressed my disappointment about how the promotion of the Wild Atlantic Way stops at the border.”

Without wishing to undermine historian Hiram Morgan’s call for Irish Government action to preserve the cultural heritage in the seas off the Wild Atlantic Way, it’s worth noting the stated objective of that tourism initiative… The overall aim of the project is to develop a route that will achieve greater visibility for the west coast of Ireland in overseas tourist markets. Also worth pointing out that one of the armada wrecks he mentioned, La Girona, isn’t on the Wild Atlantic Way, having …

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Giant’s Causeway dispute heightens

The plot thickens over the controversial plan to build a golf course and hotel complex  at Runkerry just outside the perimeter of the Giant’s Causeway World Heritage site. Now UNESCO which awards this designation  is weighing in behind the National Trust to try to stop it. From memory this is land the behind the lovely beach that stretches from just outside Portballintrae beginning at the brackish outflow of the river Bush. Would the beach be closed off too I wonder? …

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UNESCO pitches golf ball into Runkerry bunker

It took a long time to work through the planning process, but in February 2012 the Bushmills Dunes Golf Resort and Spa finally received planning permission. A year later in February 2013, the National Trust lost its judicial review of the decision and have not appealed. Minister of the Environment Alex Attwood invited Unesco to visit the Giant’s Causeway and the Causeway Coast. Quotes from their inspection report have been released and will be considered by Unesco’s World Heritage Committee …

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“the looming legal row, which is due to commence on 9 January, could become a defining event for Northern Ireland…”

Well, perhaps.  At the very least it might provide the basis for some actual politics, for a while…  ANYhoo…  The Observer’s Jamie Doward with a reminder of the upcoming legal battle over planning permission for the Bushmills Dunnes development – a 18-hole golf course, clubhouse, golf academy, 120-room hotel and 75 golf lodges complex, plus associated car parking facilities, at Runkerry, close to the Unesco World Heritage Centre Giants’ Causeway and Causeway Coast. In June this year the National Trust sought leave for a …

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#Creationism to be included in the [#GiantsCauseway] exhibition, as a grant condition.

The British Humanist Association is reporting that an FOI request by Andew Muir of the Alliance Party suggests that the origin of the creationist content in the National Trusts’ Giant’s Causeway exhibit can be traced back to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment: … an email uncovered by the Alliance Party, from a civil servant within DETI and dated 9 November 2009, states that ‘I’ve amended draft to take on board NITB [Northern Ireland Tourist Board] comment re National Trust unwillingness …

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National Trust: “However, not everyone agrees with the scientific view…”

The BBC report that the National Trust have amended the controversial exhibition at the new Giants’ Causeway interpretive centre following their announced review of the materials in the display.  But have they fully addressed the problem?  Not quite. Here’s how the revised controversial section of the transcript now reads Today there is a clear understanding among scientists that the heat of the earth was the driving force behind the formation of the Giant’s Causeway – and that the earth is far older than …

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Cameron: “it’s local politicians who have to deliver on that”.

Prime Minister David Cameron was in Northern Ireland today, as part of a UK-wide tour to promote the Olympics.  But despite their recent complaints, neither the NI First and deputy First Ministers appear to have been able to schedule a meeting.  According to Martina Purdy, The first and deputy first ministers were not on hand to meet the prime minister as both are on holiday. [Both!?  At the same time? – Ed]  Indeed.  And, as I said in slightly different circumstances, that’s why you …

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National Trust: “To ensure that no further misunderstanding or misrepresentation of this exhibit can occur, we have decided to review the interpretive materials in this section.”

As the BBC report, after a fortnight of stonewalling and denials, and temporarily closing comments at their press blog, the National Trust has announced that they intend “to review the interpretive materials” in the controversial section of their Giants’ Causeway Interpretive Centre.  [Have the Geological Society had a word in their shell-like? – Ed] They’re still blaming everyone else. However, one small part of the visitor centre’s interpretive display has caused mixed reactions, mainly from people reacting to media coverage and …

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Memo to the National Trust…

The “intellectual baboons” behind young-Earth creationism at the National Trust’s Giants’ Causeway Interpretive Centre are singing your praises in letters to the editor and op-eds in the News Letter ‘Caleb’ had engaged over many months with elected representatives and the National Trust on this. The step taken by the Trust is a small, but welcome, move towards greater inclusivity. [added emphasis] It is though, of itself, significant. For the first time a younger earth interpretation has now been included as part …

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Giants’ Causeway Interpretive Centre: “The National Trust fully supports the scientific explanation for the creation of the stones 60 million years ago”

Which is fine, but misses the point.  The National Trust continues to try to defend its decision to give in to the lobbying of the Caleb Foundation and include young-Earth creationist beliefs in the Giants’ Causeway Interpretive Centre.  [Are they after the crank pound? – Ed]  Maybe… and maybe not. Yesterday’s NT press office blog carried this quote A National Trust spokesperson said: “The interpretation in the visitor centre showcases the science of how the stones were formed, the history of …

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Giants’ Causeway Interpretive Centre: “This is, as far as we are aware, a first for the National Trust anywhere in the UK, and it sets a precedent for others to follow…”

John’s professed concern is misplaced.  As the National Trust press release on the “new state-of-the-art visitor centre” at the Unesco World Heritage Site Giants’ Causeway noted New interactive displays and activities inside the visitor centre include an animation of the legend of Finn McCool and an innovative hand-held audio guide. Such distractions aside, and without access to the material at issue, the quotes in the UTV report from the National Trust raise serious questions. The trust said that the exhibit gives …

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#GiantsCauseway: Fenians lose out to Bible.

*sigh* According to UTV, the Giant’s Causeway Visitor Centre now includes exhibits that acknowlegde the young-earth Creationist view of how the world-famous stones are formed. Pete has detailed the backstory to this before and others have picked up the creationist lobbying trail around the Ulster Museum. UTV report that The National Trust said it wanted to “reflect and respect” the fact that some people contest the views of mainstream science. With that, the National Trust have now neatly denigrated and rejected centuries …

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WHC requests UK Government “to halt the proposed development of a golf resort at the World Heritage property ‘Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast'”

The BBC reports that the World Heritage Committee (WHC) of Unesco has agreed to request “the state party of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to halt the proposed development of a golf resort at the World Heritage property ‘Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast’ until its potential impact on the outstanding universal value of the World Heritage property has been assessed”.   The WHC request comes after the National Trust’s decision to seek leave for a judicial review of the decision to grant …

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“the trust’s over-riding focus is the protection of the environment and landscape within the distinctive setting of Northern Ireland’s only World Heritage Site”

The BBC report on the news that the National Trust are seeking leave for a judicial review of the decision to grant planning permission for a 18-hole golf course, hotel and golf lodges complex at Runkerry, close to the Unesco World Heritage Centre Giants’ Causeway and Causeway Coast, begins thus Stormont ministers have reacted angrily to a legal challenge by the National Trust over the decision to grant planning permission for a £100m golf resort on Northern Ireland’s north coast. That’s according to an …

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Interpreting the Giants’ Causeway…

A week or so ago, Will Crawley noted that a fundamentalist campaign group, the Caleb Foundation, were claiming that NI Culture Minister Nelson McCausland’s intervention at the Ulster Museum was as a direct result of their lobbying. On Evening Extra today, a representative of the Foundation [it may have been chairman, Wallace Thompson] confirmed that, encouraged by that ‘success’, they had contacted the NI Tourism Minister, the DUP’s Arlene Foster, seeking a similar ministerial intervention in the consultation over the Giants’ Causeway Interpretive Centre.  They had a lobbying campaign already underway. It’s worth noting that …

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