Shannon Development is set to perform a U-turn and play a full role in the proposed €27 million Cliffs of Moher visitor centre project.
This follows an intervention by the Minister for Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, who acted this month to defuse the row between the regional tourism authority and Clare County Council over the centre.
The move - which increases the prospects of the council securing €10million in grant aid for the project - represents a massive climb down for Shannon Development, who opposed the plan in the planning process for over two years.
The company claimed it had "a fundamental objection to the nature and scale of the centre", arguing that it was flawed and against international best practice. Its objections led to a Bord Pleanála hearing, where the sides clashed over four days before planning was granted last December.
Obstacles by the company to the project didn't stop there, and in recent months it demanded a reported €10 million from the council to vacate lands at the cliffs which would allow the project to proceed.
Such a demand, if upheld, would have rendered the project unviable, and the two sides were set to fight it out once more over the cost of the lands at a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) arbitration hearing in January.
Shannon Development released a statement in August confirming it would play no part in the centre, and relations between the two sides reached a nadir at the council's September meeting when council members stopped short of calling for Shannon Development's tourism remit to be withdrawn.
However, earlier this month, Mr O'Donoghue summoned the Shannon Development chief executive, Mr Kevin Thompstone, and other senior Shannon Development officials to discuss the project. Arising from that meeting and subsequent negotiations between Shannon Development and the council, the bodies are set to announce this week that they will be jointly developing the project.
Council members have been briefed by council officials on the planned agreement, and have been told that Shannon Development is to market the centre and operate the retail facility at the centre. Issues relating to the CPO have also been resolved.
A spokesman for Shannon Development said yesterday that the company expected the negotiations to be finalised in the next week.
Providing that the council can secure the funding for the centre, work on its first phase is expected to commence next year.
