The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív, has pledged his support for a project to restore a historic fort on Bere Island off the west Cork coast with a view to developing it as a major tourist attraction.
He expressed confidence that Fort Berehaven could be restored and opened to the public on a phased basis over the next decade at relatively minimal cost to the State while providing a significant boost to the local economy on the island off the Beara Peninsula.
"The history here is unbelievable - a fort was built here initially in response to the French under Gen Hoche sailing into Bantry Bay in 1796 and the subsequent United Irishmen rising of 1798 and then in the 19th century, the fort was developed.
"A lot of the fortifications here date from the time of the first World War and, of course, it was one of the three remaining parts of the 26 counties that were in British hands until it was handed over in 1938, so there's a great history to the place," he said.
Mr Ó Cuív was speaking during a visit to the fort with the Bere Island Projects Group who gave him a guided tour of the four-acre fortification which occupies high ground on the eastern end of the 9.5km (six miles) long island which is home to some 200 people. Local historian Ted O'Sullivan points out in his book A Brief History of Bere Island that much of the modern fortification of the site began with a compulsory purchase order in 1898 which cleared tenants from the eastern end of the island.
The reason for the fortifications, which included seven gun batteries, was to protect British dreadnoughts as they needed 48 hours of "elaborate protection while routine maintenance had to be carried out", said Mr O'Sullivan in his book.
Fort Berehaven is owned by the Department of Defence, which also has a training camp on the island but, according to John Walsh of the Bere Island Group Project, the fort has been unused since the 1970s and has great tourist potential.
