Mayo County Council must "show leadership" and "find the funding" to repair and conserve Croagh Patrick.
Speaking at a meeting of West Mayo Municipal District on Monday, its cathaoirleach, Independent Councillor Christy Hyland, said he was "sick of people playing lip-service to the urgent repair of Croagh Patrick".
“If Mayo County Council can access a loan of €1.5 million for the new Mary Robinson Centre in Ballina, which was sanctioned last week, they can find the money for one of our most important places of Irish heritage and tourism,” Mr Hyland said.
Some 5,000 pilgrims climbed the 764m-high mountain on Sunday, despite the pilgrimage being officially cancelled due to atrocious weather conditions.
The serious erosion on the ancient pathway up the mountain has caused much concern in recent times. A report commissioned by Mountaineering Ireland concluded that the mountain needed a major intervention, which would cost about €1.5 million.
Martin Keating, the council's acting director of services, said that a workshop about the future of the mountain, held in the aftermath of the report, identified various issues to be addressed.
The meeting agreed that four councillors would join a stakeholder group to deal with the short-term issues and consider “solutions to facilitate the resolution of the long term issues”. Its first meeting will be held in September.
Councillors praised the voluntary services for taking a hard decision by cancelling the pilgrimage in the interests of heath and safety on Sunday morning. They said the national focus had concentrated minds about its repair and conservation but noted the subject was already on their agenda.
Mountaineering Ireland wrote to all councillors in the district highlighting its “extensive experience”, noting that it is “currently working on upland path repair projects in various counties across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland”.
Share experience
“[We] stand ready to provide advice and support to all stakeholders working to protect Croagh Patrick for current and future generations of users,” the group wrote. “We would very much like to share our experience of best practice to ensure that mistakes . . . are not repeated in County Mayo.
“There is no easy quick fix solution to the scale of erosional problem and management issues on Croagh Patrick.”
Fr Charlie McDonnell, who co-ordinates the pilgrimage on behalf of the Catholic Church, said that all parties worked well on Sunday to publicise and monitor the last-minute cancellation of the pilgrimage while supporting the 5,000 who persisted with the climb.
“The substantive issue is separate and, in my view, should have been addressed 30 years ago when concerns about erosion were first expressed,” he said. “This was around the time the annual Reek Sunday pilgrimage three-day weekend event gradually evolved into a 365-day event.
“In fairness to the stakeholders – the county council, the church, the community and the mountain rescue volunteers – they have tried to come together to resolve the issues but always met certain obstacles caused by possible litigation and indemnity,” Fr McDonnell said.
“It is important to remember that the Reek is in commonage and owned by 49 landowners, as well as the church, which owns the oratory at the summit. Now, in fairness, Government is about to address the concerns about legal responsibility with a new law for dedicated walkways above 300 feet.”