IT'S been a long road for the Burren Action Group from the announcement in April 1991 that Mullaghmore would be the location for an interpretative centre to yesterday's decision by An Bord Pleanala refusing permission for the building of visitors' facilities.
The group learnt its lessons during the nine-year battle which put Mullaghmore on the map more than any interpretative centre could have done.
The group has been left with a debt from last week when its Supreme Court appeal against the costs awarded against it in respect of a 1994 High Court action failed. It now has a bill estimated to be between £100,000 and £150,000, and Mr Joe Saunders, the publicity co-ordinator for the core group of seven people, is calling on the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, to have it rescinded.
"We are calling on the Minister to make a clear statement that she will not pursue costs which were incurred only because of the State's obduracy in pursuing an unwinnable case," he said.
Yesterday, messages of congratulation were flooding in from "five continents" following the involvement of such high-profile environmentalists as the botanist, Mr David Bellamy, and his organisation, Plant Life.
"It is a victory for everybody in the county and, given some parts of the judgment, it will also be a flagship judgment in relation to other developments across the European Union," Mr Saunders said.
"It will improve Ireland's reputation as a country which cherishes its landscape," he said.
Mr Saunders is a sociology graduate from Trinity College Dublin, and if he were to write a textbook on how to wage battles against State authorities he would stress the value of team work and dividing up the skills of the group. The "engine room" was people power.
"We have had huge highs and lows over the period of the campaign but the determination has always been the key emotion. That has been rewarded today," he said.
Before the Bord Pleanala decision, one of the high points of the campaign was the Supreme Court decision of May 1993 upholding a High Court ruling that it was unconstitutional for the Office of Public Works to be exempt from the planning laws.
Mr Saunders describes it as a victory over the State which "had always assumed its pre-eminence over its citizens in planning legislation".
Over the nine years, the group has successfully lobbied the European Commission to use the threat of the withdrawal of funding to ensure proper Environmental Impact Studies were carried out.
"The costs and difficulty of accessing EU institutions is definitely a deterrent to voluntary groups, especially when they are fighting a Government with permanent representation in and access to Brussels," Mr Saunders said. The group unsuccessfully brought a High Court case challenging the retrospective application of the 1993 State Authorities Development and Management Act to Mullaghmore, from which much of its outstanding bill derives.
After the heritage sections of the OPW were brought under the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht in February 1995, the Minister, Mr Michael D. Higgins, withdrew the planning application for the visitor section. The next year he applied for planning permission to construct a visitors' centre, whose fate was finally decided yesterday.
The final chapter in the saga relates to yet another High Court action, taken in June 1996, by the Burren Action Group which sought an order requiring the OPW to restore the Mullaghmore site to its original condition following development works there in 1992.
This case has yet to be resolved after being heard by Mr Justice Flood and deferred six times. But following yesterday's decision, the way is clear for Mullaghmore to be restored to its original state.
Next for the group, then, is to tackle the subject of visitor facilities in the Burren which would have local community involvement and "uphold the principles of sustainable development as alluded to by the board", said Mr Saunders.