# Update: Aires for Ireland: An opportunity to be heard!



## erneboy

I changed the title of this in the hope of attracting more attention. See my post dated 21st December for an update.


As many of you will know there is an excellent waterway running down the centre of Ireland from Bellek in the north west to Limerick in the south west. This facility has been developed to promote water based leisure activities of all sorts and has been very successful, mainly with tourists in motor boats. 

The intention is to try to widen the appeal of this area and try to increase boating, fishing and other water based activities, but also to attract new types of tourism. I feel motorhoming fits that requirement very well.

There are stop over places for boats in lots of towns and there are also many lovely isolated places to stay. There is provision for taking on fresh water and disposing of waste. The facilities provided for the boats are equally useful for motorhomes.

Recently a new document has been published announcing plans for future development. On reading it I notice that no mention is made of motorhoming. I think this is quite an oversight and believe we should contact the authors asking to included in their plans. At present the attitude to motorhomes varies, some areas welcome them while others have height barriers preventing access to the facilities. I think it is fair to say that the height barriers are mainly aimed at keeping travellers out.

I intend contacting the authors of this document asking them to allow access for motorhomes. I will refer them to this site in order that they can see the potential size of the marked which is almost on their doorstep. I would encourage others to contact them too.

I have attached the development plan for any interested parties to read. contact detail are there too, Alan.


The pdf attachment is too big to add here, I will see if I can find a link to it elsewhere.

Edit: We are just trying to reduce the size of the document to see if we can post it. I can't find a link to it . Our copy may be an advance release as we have a business in the area.

Edit 2: I have emailed the authors of this document and asked if they can provide a link to the document so that others can read it and contact them with any comments. I will post any reply I get.


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## erneboy

I haven't had a reply from Mr. Tiernan so have copied my email to him again this morning.

I am a bit disappointed that that no-one else seems interested in this possibility, Alan.


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## Zebedee

I am, but was waiting to see what happened about the pdf. :wink: 

Sounds like a cracking good idea to me, especially if there are cyclable paths alongside the waterway.

Dave


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## erneboy

Dave, I can email you the pdf if you have time to look at it and see if there is a way to put it on here. I am afraid my computer skills are limited, I tried editing the photographs out but could not do it, Alan.


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## Zebedee

Hi Alan

I've managed to reduce the size so it will upload, but had to Zip it to achieve the result.

I expect most members will have Winzip, or will be able to unzip with other software.

Dave 

.


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## erneboy

Thanks Dave. What do you think of what they have to say in the document. I was disappointed that they had not considered motorhomes at all. 

I wonder if we might try a bit of an Email campaign. There are also regional tourist offices we could copy emails to? Alan.


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## EJB

Very interesting  
I may never visit Ireland again but if you post some e-mail addresses I will certainly add my twopenneth :wink:


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## havingfun

*an opportunity to be heard*

hi alan,

we have been on a couple of forums together praising ireland,i,ve not read the doc yet,as i,m just on way out,but if you phone marcus teiriman,he is a great guy to talk to.before we went to ireland this year,he sent me a huge box of tourist information,and i sent my cheque for £10 and he sent me my smart cards, i told him we were in a motorhome,and he said that we were just the people they needed to use the facilites on the waterways,parking,showers etc.

he said that a lot of money has been spent,and now they need it to be used.

mags


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## erneboy

Email address as requested EJB.

[email protected]

My letter to Mr. Tiernan.

Dear Manus,

thank you for the copy of the new strategic document. It is always good to know that efforts are being made to attract more tourists to Ireland. I hope our holiday rental business will benefit.

I would like to take this opportunity to suggest that you consider the needs of the rapidly growing number of people touring in motorhomes. The same service facilities you provide for boats are ideal for their needs.

In other parts of Europe motorhomes are well catered often sharing facilities with boats. While in Ireland facilities are few.

To give you some idea here is a French web site which details, country by country some of the facilities available for motorhomes in Europe. http://www.campingcar-infos.com/index1.htm

To see the extent to which motorhomers are catered for click on "Clickez por Entrer" and then "Cherchez/Ajouter une Aire" on the left hand side of the page, choose a country to see what facilities there are. Most provision is made for motorhomers in France and Germany. There are many such web sites and this example does not show all that is available. It shows a mixture of Aire type facilities and camp sites, the former being preferred by most motorhomers.

Motorhomers are not like caravanners, they do not want or need the kind of full facilities provided by elaborate caravan sites. Rather a simple "Aire" type facility is preferred by many. An Aire consists of a place to park and stay overnight, fresh water and waste disposal is required every few days. In Europe this can be free or can cost up around 8 euros. Generally what is termed "camping" is not permitted in these areas. So putting out tables and chairs is not allowed but parking and staying overnight is. This is type of tourism is widely welcomed through out Europe as it brings much needed income to any town or village which is prepared to provide facilities.

I hope you will consider this growing market. To give some idea of the size of the market in the UK here is a link to a motorhoming web site where there are over 50,000 members, http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ I am a member on this site and know that if you have any questions you would be made very welcome. I have posted on this topic in the Ireland Touring section here http://www.motorhomefacts.com/forumname-85-ireland-touring.html My web site nickname is erneboy as I am a great fan of the waterways and have travelled widely on them for many years in my own boat. I know that these facilities for boats are second to none in Europe. Sadly the same cannot be said for facilities for motorhomers and as a result we get very few visitors from mainland Europe. Having discussed this with many European motorhomers it is apparent to me that they consider Ireland and the UK to be somewhat hostile to them. So even though they are often keen to see Ireland they are put off by that.

Could you please provide me with a link to the Strategic Document so that I can post it there, I have been unable to find one on your web site and I know people will be interested.

Thank you for reading this.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. Regards, ........................


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## JohnGun

very well put alan, would be great if they would consider the facilities as requested,keep us posted,i will also send an email to manus


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## erneboy

Got a reply this morning, here it is,



Good Morning Alan,



Apologies for the delay in getting back to you as I have been out of the office quiet a bit recently. I have passed on your comments to the powers that be for consideration & reply. 



At present there is no link to the Strategic Document on our website.



Regards - Manus



Let's hope we hear more. If not I will contact him again at the end of January. I would encourage others to email Manus too. Thanks to those who have done so, Alan.


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## barryd

Its a no brainer. We sometimes stay at a marina at Braunston Marina on the junction of the Oxford and Grand Union canals. Its not far from the M1 so we stop there on the way home from the south or Europe.

Officially it has a field for 5 vans but we always stay on the hard standing right next to the boats. We use the same EHU and waste and water. Simple.

Nice spot as well. 

We would like to tour Ireland sometime as I havent done it since I Was much younger. We always boated and camped in a 1967 commer caravenette along the Shannon and Lough Derg. Its a lovely place and an Aires system would see loads flock there I reckon.


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## bq125rex

the motorhome association has raised this topic at a meeting with both the tourism minister and the irish tourist board minister we have a meeting planned to further deal with this problem and all other aspects of parking and aires de services at stormont in january all tourism officers and other interested parties will be discussing these matters hosted by mrs arlene foster tourist minister. the motorhome association chair Mrs Chris Quinn [email protected]


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## jiwawa

I've done my bit, erneboy, and sent a mail to Mr.Tiernan.

It would be great if motorhomers were included in the plan. It's a surprising omission - unless they're terrified of being taken over by travellers?


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## erneboy

Rex, that's good news. Is there something we can do to help. Would you like us to email anyone? Do you mind telling us how members you have in Ireland?

Have you spoken to Waterways Ireland about it?

JWW, we will have to hope that they can begin to tell the difference between us and travellers and continue to allow us to use their facilities. It's a difficult topic and officials tend to see us all as possible travellers if there are a few of us. It's important that we help them to learn to recognise the difference and not simply take the easy way out by excluding all high vehicles as some sites currently do. Possibly a small fee, although that would be difficult as there is no charge for boats so they would have to put staff on just for us. A permit would be better. We could purchase one annually (for a small fee) to display when on their property. The money they earn from the permit could be used to provide height barriers for which members would have keys. Much in the way the Forestry Service operate their sites. That would mean that small vehicles would be able to enter without keys. Existing height barriers would need modification to allow the padlock to be at a suitable height rather than in the middle overhead where most currently are.

The Minister may not be aware that the Forestry Commission operate Touring in the Trees sites. Although it is not well publicised and is rather expensive and a bit difficult for tourists to join it's a good model of what can be done.

I wonder why the Forestry Commission in the rest of the UK don't have Touring in the Trees. Here is a link for those in the rest of the UK who don't know about this:

http://www.dardni.gov.uk/forestserv...ouring-in-the-trees-caravan-sites-booklet.htm

It's a small network of sites with basic facilities in forests in N. Ireland, oddly there are none in the south, Alan.


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## Nora+Neil

Alan.

Just came across this today.

We have wildcamped on the Shannon for years.
(Terryglass/Garrykenneddy/
Lanesborough/Enniskellen/Belturbet)etc

No area layout for Motorhomes.
Never been asked to move.
I be happy to help by sending emails.

Have to read book in full.

Happy Christmas.


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## Jean-Luc

Hi Alan, great work in trying to get us catered for officially at the marinas throughout our waterways.
Here's another 'string for your bow'.
A very good friend of mine who is a tugger aspiring to become a MH'r and who holds a senior position in Tourism Ireland reliably tells me that there is a current project in that organisation to investigate and quantify the benefits of having French style Aires here in the South. 
Unfortunately the organisation is also likely to be lobbied by the hotel and caravan park sectors to resist the idea of facilitating the establishment of Aires.
Lets hope those in favour win the day, so all you out there who would like Ireland to have a network of French type Aires please let your opinions be known to 'officialdom'.


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## Nora+Neil

Hi Jean-Luc

Just send email to Manus Tiernan.

Who else should we be emailing??

Nora


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## erneboy

Hello Neil and Nora. Yes we have been using the Waterways facilities too for some time and have always been welcomed there. The council in Enniskillen recently put no overnight parking signs at Rossigh. This was because a couple of van loads of louts turned up and stayed a week during the summer. They lit fires and played loud music all night long causing annoyance to a bad tempered friend of mine who lives next door.

I imagine it won't hurt to email local Tourist offices, Councils and the Tourism Ministers for North and South. I will see if I can compile a list of email addresses. Would anyone emailing please make reference to this site and include a link to this thread, it will help show how many of us there are.

Thanks all and a Merry Christmas, Alan.

Edit, links for email contact:

Irish Tourism Ministry here: http://www.arts-sport-tourism.gov.ie/

The office of the Northern Ireland Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure. The Minister is Ms. Arlene Foster: [email protected]

Discover Northern Ireland, Offical site of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board: [email protected]

The most influential Council in Northern Ireland on matters concerning the Shannon Erne Waterway is Fermanagh District Council, their Tourist Office, Fermanagh Lakeland Tourism can be contacted here: [email protected]

I shall contact all the above and would encourage anyone else who is interested to do so too. I will post any replies I get.


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## Jean-Luc

Jean-Luc said:


> Hi Alan, great work in trying to get us catered for officially at the marinas throughout our waterways.
> Here's another 'string for your bow'.
> A very good friend of mine who is a tugger aspiring to become a MH'r and who holds a senior position in Tourism Ireland reliably tells me that there is a current project in that organisation to investigate and quantify the benefits of having French style Aires here in the South.
> Unfortunately the organisation is also likely to be lobbied by the hotel and caravan park sectors to resist the idea of facilitating the establishment of Aires.
> Lets hope those in favour win the day, so all you out there who would like Ireland to have a network of French type Aires please let your opinions be known to 'officialdom'.


Below is cut and past of a relevant part of an email from a contact in Fáilte Ireland

"Tourism Ireland would have very little to do with Aires or any other types of tourist accommodation. Their role is to promote holidaying in Ireland to the overseas markets. They may try to influence us here in Fáilte Ireland to consider Aires as something they could market to the overseas tourists. 
Fáilte Ireland on the other hand have a responsibility to market Ireland to the Irish tourists, to approve all types of tourist accommodation and to encourage a professionally trained workforce. 
A girl here Tracey Coughlan looks after the 'small accommodation sector' including Caravan & Camping. I have had several conversations with her promoting the idea and benefits of Aires. I think I am getting places if only little by little. Tracey informed me a number of months ago that the approval of a type of Aire is looking increasingly likely but I have not been talking to her now for some time. 
If you wish to lobby someone you could email Tracey at [email protected] and strongly emphasise that Ireland is falling behind our European colleagues and that this is having a negative impact on the number of overseas motorhome tourists considering Ireland as a holiday destination."

Remember, the Caravan and Camping sector here would be very anti Aires for obvious reasons. Effective counter lobby activity would be most important if Aires are to eventually be allowed.

So, why not give Tracey a mail promoting the benifits of MH tourism and particularly the benefits to local economies if French style in-town Aires were available, to help her on her way 
_ _


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## centrefire

I have been using the shannon regions parking facilities for the last 15 years and I feel it could be further developed to include official facilities for motorhomes. I have emailed Dept of Tourism Ireland and Treacey Coughlan at failte ireland with my thoughts on same and I await a reply which I will pass on. I am living in Tipperary Southern Ireland and I am more than willing to spend my holiday Euros in the Shannon Region along with my trips abroad.


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## erneboy

An update, I just got this from Manus Tiernan of Waterways Ireland,


Hi Alan,



Just to come back to you regarding your enquiry below & to let you know I haven’t forgotten about it! I have also received further correspondence from other motorhome users with the same enquiry. You may be aware of this so I would be obliged if you could update users on the motorhoming website you mention below. I have spoken to management in Waterways Ireland who have requested that a reply be sent to you from Failte Ireland. I have contacted Failte Ireland re same & have been advised by a representative that they will respond to your enquiry.



Hope this will be of some assistance to you.



Kind Regards - Manus 



Let's hope the replies a favourable one, Alan.


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## centrefire

Alan

I feel you have iniated something positive, I thank you for your initiative and we will keep our fingers crossed.


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## erneboy

I would encourage others to email both the Irish Tourist Board (Tracey Coughlan) here [email protected]

and Waterways Ireland (Manus Tiernan) here [email protected]

by all means copy my letter and edit to suit you own needs if that is easier for you, Alan.


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## Seeker

Both emailed - well done Alan. We must keep pushing for 'aires' in the British isles at every opportunity.

Harry


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## carol

Well better not send two - glad some progress is being made Alan. 

Carol


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## erneboy

Carol, my thinking is that as long as emails are nicely worded and perhaps not too long we should send as many as we can so that it is clear that many people are interested.

Do others think that is a bad idea? Alan.


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## shaysue

*Aires for Irelan*

Well done all. Have just sent mails to both parties. Lets hope this topic does not just get "lip service" and no action! As a regular user of the beautiful parking areas along the Shannon it is a great pity that a couple of extra electricity points have not been sited for us motorhomers. Especially when shower and other facilities are already in situ.


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## erneboy

I have had a couple of replies to my emails today. Both are from Failte Ireland (The Irish Tourist Board).

I quote from one email, "Fáilte Ireland are planning a review of the Caravan & Camping sector (including Motorhomes) in 2011, part of this includes an audit which will highlight potential development opportunities that may exist".

I think we are unlikely to find a more opportune time to represent the interests of motorhomers and would encourage as many people as possible to contact

Tracey Coughlan

Manager - Sector Liaison & Planning

Failte Ireland

88-95 Amiens St.,

Dublin 1

Ireland

or email Tracey at [email protected]
and let her know what you views are. Please feel free to copy and edit my letter from my OP if that helps. Remember Tracey is from Failte Ireland who are not Waterways Ireland so her interest in in tourism for all of Ireland and is not confined solely to the areas around the waterways.

Where you live will be important. I imagine that Ireland is very keen just now to attract tourism from the UK and Europe. So please do get involved and send Tracey a brief note.

Please make reference to your membership of Motorhomefacts.com and it's 50,000 plus motorhoming members in your emails. It's important to emphasise the size of this market to providers. Thanks, Alan.


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## scept1c

Good work Alan, emails sent to Tracey and Manus.

Who knows, if the motorhome traffic can be boosted it may help to lower the cost of ferries to and from UK and Europe.


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## Nora+Neil

I received this from Marie Mc Cormack a few weeks ago.

Hi Nora

How are you?

I received a copy of your email which you recently sent to Waterways Ireland and would like to explain that there was no specific reason why motorhomes were not mentioned in our Lakelands strategy. There are times when producing a guide or a document that we would use generic terms or list only a few examples of activities (without having to list everything), but I can assure you that all products within the Lakelands area will be promoted equally.

Fáilte Ireland are carrying out a review of the Caravan& Camping sector in 2011. I have forwarded a copy of your mail to my colleague Tracey Coughlan to ensure your comments are considered during this review.

With kind regards

Marie 
Marie McCormack
Client ServicesOfficer,
Fáilte Ireland
East & Midlands Region
Dublin Road, Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland
( Phone: +353(0)44 9350116 Mobile + 353 (0)87 13437354 Fax:+353 (0)44 9340413
: E-mail: [email protected] 
Web:www.discoverireland.ie/eastcoast; www.discoverireland.ie/lakelands


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## Bob_ed

While up at the NEC show the other week I asked questions of a young lady on the Waterways Ireland stand in the Boat Hall.

For additional information I have copied her email below:

_
Hi Bob

I hope you are well? I am replying to your query at the Boat & Caravan Show re Motorhome parking and service block use on Ireland's Inland Waterways.

I checked out the blog to which you referred and they correctly confirm that Waterways Ireland does sell smart cards which any member of the public may use to access our service blocks including toilets, showers, laundry and pumpouts. This continues to be the case.

The parking situation at service blocks is different in different locations; Firstly we do not own all the service blocks, many are council operated. We are working towards taking over the operation of many of the services blocks and running them, but will have no control over how the area around them is managed.

In other locations, land is leased to us for the service block or were we do own the property we sometimes lease it to the local authority to use for town centre parking and they place restrictions on the parking. The blog correctly states that you can access the services, but the parking situation is not consistent throughout.

Essentially, the service block access is certainly available the parking picture is not consistent.

I hope that this answers your question.

I hope you have a great season!

Best regards

Katrina Mc Girr
Marketing & Communications Division
Somerview House
Old Dublin Rd
Carrick-on-Shannon
Co Leitrim
T +353 (0)71 9650560
F +353 (0)71 9622866
M +353 (0)87 9918412
E [email protected]
W waterwaysireland.org

_


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## erneboy

I don't think we should let up on Bord Failte and Waterways Ireland, they will both have a lot of influence with councils and could easily request the Motorhomes be allowed to park in the interests of greater use of the waterways by tourists. Waterways Ireland are responsible for more than just boating. I will bring this topic up with Manus Tiernan and see what he has to say, Alan.


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