Quote by CHAUSSON
Quote by hillton9
This is great at long last counsels are seeing what moterhomes can bring to there area,must give it a visit
Who actually built it? Was it the council?, I heard someplace that it was Waterway Ireland. Well whoever built it we are greatful, my only concern is there is only 18 spaces and I believe in the past there could be more than twice that amount of vans parked there on a good summers day. If that happens now there will be trouble ahead and it won't attract others to build new Aires also it will not go down too well with the regulars that are going there for years
Yes, there is definitely demand for more than 18 places but unfortunately that is all that was put in. I was talking to one of the County Council officials and he was saying that it is very difficult to get support within the council for projects like this. Essentially his comment was 'nobody wants to know'. No surprises there.
Like it or not, Portunma is now going to become a test bed. If there are problem at Portumna local representative will use it as ammunition against developing further sites. Of course some of the problems, like over crowding, that might arise would be because there just aren't enough of places like Portunma (even without the facilities). But that will be a hard argument to sell if problems arise at Portumna.
So I think it incumbent on the Motorhome community to use Portumna as intended. Yes, it used to fit more than 18 vans but now it doesn't and if it is full well, move on. There are places up town that are good to park especially at weekends and Terryglass is lovely also. Naturally, it is also important to continue to lobby for more spaces at Portumna and other sites to be developed. But abuse Portumna and the only thing we will achieve is height barriers (Howth springs to mind). Remember one photo of a van parked at the wall (under the sign saying no camper parking) can do an awful lot of damage.
I know there are people in our community that are not happy about the development at Portunma. Probably more accurate to say they are not happy about the prospect of a charge being introduced. I didn't directly witness it myself (I think Ken did
) but I did overhear some comments and there was more than one motormouth giving out. Yes, you might have being coming here for 20 years but the reality is times change. For a start, there are now a lot more Motorhomes and unfortunately more than a few are ultra selfish and will abuse facilities where there are no controls. Like the utter gobshites that left their Motorhomes in Howth for weeks on end even when they themselves were not there. Personally, where good facilities exist I am all for a reasonable charge and sensible rules. For example a €4 overnight charge (like Galway) and a rule like no more than x nights and can't return for y nights.
. WI assumed that the vacuum suction system for boats could double as the provision for motorhomes, forgetting we have gravity emptying and cannot use/access the solution provided for emptying boat tanks.
