Duchas may buy cattle herd to protect Burren dolmen

Dúchas, the Heritage Service, is considering buying a herd of cattle to help conserve the site of the Poulnabrone portal dolmen in the Burren, Co Clare.

Two years ago, the State bought the 5,800-year-old dolmen and 16 acres of surrounding land for €380,000 from a local farmer in an attempt to control access to the monument, which attracts over 100,000 visitors each year.

Now, in a conservation plan to protect the dolmen, the role of grazing cattle is seen as vital to protect safe access to the tomb.

The plan points out that the use of livestock may be "considered the most ecologically environmentally sensitive option to control vegetation", adding that grazing must be maintained to preserve the richness and diversity of the grasslands.

Recommending that livestock be bought or grazing agreements made with adjoining landowners, the plan states: "If livestock were purchased for the site, then management issues, together with a need to corral the livestock at a sufficient distance from the tomb, will need to be addressed."

Along with the need to control the movements of cattle around the dolmen, the conservation plan also proposes measures to curtail the on-site activities of the greatest threat to the long-term future of the dolmen: tourists.

Before the dolmen was bought, it was damaged by tourists standing on top of it, and by graffiti. Tourists also built hundreds of mini-dolmens around the site. In 1986, a crack was discovered on one of the stones that holds the structure upright. During subsequent excavation, a burial chamber was discovered below the dolmen containing the remains of at least 23 people - 16 children and seven adults - buried between 3,800 BC and 3,200 BC. The cracked portal stone was replaced with another from the nearby limestone pavement.

The conservation plan recommends that Dúchas employ someone to manage visitors.

Mindful of the long-running controversy over plans to build an interpretative facility at Mullaghmore in the Burren, the plan states that "there is a consensus that there should not be any new structures on site".

However, the plan recommends that Dúchas investigate the provision of on-site facilities for staff and that preference should be given to the rehabilitation of post-medieval farm buildings to the east of the tomb.

The dolmen is on a busy tourist route four miles from Ballyvaughan. Over a five-day period last July, 5,741 tourists visited the site.

There are no provisions for parking, leading to long delays during the summer and prompting to park on the roadside. The plan recommends that a car-park be developed near the site with space for two coaches and 12 cars.

The plan also stresses that interpretation of the dolmen must be provided to inform visitors of the features of the site. "The form of interpretation should be relatively low impact and should make use of local materials," it says.