‘Criminal’ neglect of world class Kerry beach slammed as local businesses suffer
The KerrymanA Kerry councillor has decried the ‘criminal’ neglect of the county’s ‘world class’ beach as local businesses are suffering due to lack of facilities.
Cllr Tommy Griffin, who has lived near Inch Beach all his life, claims the current infrastructure makes the beach ‘highly dangerous’ in the tourist season, with most locals steering clear of the mobbed strand.
Nearby businesses have also reported difficulties during summer months, with a local café paying thousands in septic tank bills and local holiday lets having their drives blocked by parked cars.
Every summer the car park at Inch Beach is thronged with cars, motorhomes and buses. Often vehicles are parked far along the beach and all the way back onto the main road between Castlemaine and Dingle.
The beach’s public toilet block is also put to the test, with many opting to visit the local café instead.
“You’ve got a world class beach in Inch and there’s no permanent toilets. It’s absolutely disgraceful,” said Cllr Griffin.
“I’ve gone to Inch all my life and its criminal the neglect that is happening here. The opportunity has never presented itself more than now.”
Kerry County Council, who did not respond to the Kerryman’s request for comment, currently lease the land for the carpark and the toilet block at Inch. However, much of the surrounding land has been recently acquired by the government as part of Ireland’s first marine national park.
The national park covers more than 70,000 acres of land and sea, encompassing the Inch Beach sand dunes, Mount Brandon and a litany of iconic islands, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Sceilig Mhichíl.
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The council has produced a draft plan for Inch which prescribes the removal of several dunes around the car park as well as upgrading of the bus stop, but the land is still owned by a local business.
Cllr Griffin said: “There’s some nice stuff in the draft plan but Kerry County Council does not own any land there so it’s completely pointless – to have a plan for land you don’t own. They need to shift their focus to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NTWS).”
“For years and years, the council has been saying they have no land, but now another state agency has acquired 1,235 acres there. I’m only asking that a few acres be made available – they can even look at repurposing existing buildings that the NTWS own for proper toilets and showers, potentially playground and car parking.”
Cllr Griffin also said the lack of infrastructure caused safety hazards on busy days. The drive-on beach can be teaming with cars without any traffic control measures, and as Cllr Griffin recalled, an American tourist was killed by a reversing surf school truck at the beach in 2011.
He highlighted the carpark upgrades at Muckross House within the Killarney National Park that took place in 2022 and provided 234 new spaces for the premises, claiming the council objected to similar works at Inch on the grounds that the area was “too sensitive”.
“When Muckross House needed additional parking, the council didn’t say they didn’t have any available land or the land is too sensitive. They just went off and built the carpark and that was the end of it,” said Cllr Griffin.
“It no more sensitive than the National Park inside Killarney. For years Inch has been completely and utterly neglected…there’s an opportunity now to provide the badly needed facilities.”
Sammy’s Bar and Restaurant, located adjacent to the beach carpark, said many of the tourists use their toilet facilities instead of the council provided ones in the carpark.
The hundreds of tourists that get off the bus every day in summer often use their toilets without buying anything from the café. The sheer number of visitors means the owner faces septic tank bills of up to €8,000 during the summer season.
The café adopted a donation scheme, asking for a contribution of €1 to help them run the facility – even putting up QR codes for tourists to pay online – but over a whole season, they reported only receiving €10 from the multiple thousands passing through.
They say they are forced to clean the facilities every two hours during summer to keep them in acceptable order.
The owner of land that includes the carpark and toilets, is local businessman Mahmood Hussain, who also runs Inch Beach Holiday Homes and Inch Beach House B&B.
He said he had discussions with the council about them buying the land, but they have not approached him in any official capacity.
Mr Hussain, who lives near the beach and has the entrances to his accommodation only 100 metres from the beach turn-off, said he takes extra measures in summer to stop people parking on his properties.
“We’ve had issues with people parking in our holiday village and B&B for a long time,” he said.
“They were parking at my private house and where people have rented a house for the week, and they were blocking their entrances and exits. I had to stop people totally on busy Saturdays and Sundays. Whenever we see fit, we’ll put a barrier across the driveway entrance to the holiday homes.”