Revealed: How much the State paid for iconic Conor Pass land – part of Ireland’s newest national park

The inclusion of Inch Beach and the Owenmore River means the area can be declared Ireland’s first Marine National Park.

It is to be called ‘Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara’, Ciarraí (translated as National Park of the Sea or Marine, Kerry).

It is expected that a number of islands that are important breeding sites for seabirds will also be brought into the park, along with stretches of marine territory critical to sea-life.

The region is known for birds such as puffins, storm petrels and peregrine falcons, as well as animals such as otters, badgers and mountain hares, and marine life that includes whales, dolphins and basking sharks.

It is also home to the country’s only native toad, the natterjack.

It will include 1,400 acres of land and forestry close to the iconic Conor Pass.

This land was put on the market last August with a price tag of €10m.

Speaking this morning, Junior Minister Malcolm Noonan TD told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland they “engaged in a very good process” and paid €6m for the Conor Pass lands.

Speaking about more tourists visiting the south-west, the junior minister said; “You won’t find a more welcoming people.

“I do think people are feeling the pressure with some areas of tourism now and are just saying ‘manage it in a sustainable way ‘.

"We’re all about responsible tourism and working with Fáilte Ireland and not putting pressure on sites and damaging the habitats people are coming to see.”

It is believed most of the sites to be brought under the park designation already have protected status as important habitats under EU and/or national law, so the process of grouping them as a national park should not be protracted.

It should, however, bring more focus to the region, channel more resources to the National Parks and Wildlife Service for its care and allow for its importance to be better communicated to the wider public.

The marine park will be the eighth national park in the country and follows the designation of the Boyne Valley National Park last September, after the State bought Dowth Hall and ­demesne in Co Meath.

The other national parks are Killarney, Co Kerry; Glenveagh, Co Donegal; the Wicklow Mountains; the Burren, Co Clare; Wild Nephin in Co Mayo; and Connemara in Co Galway.

Pressure built on the Government to bring the Conor Pass into public ownership last year after its American owner advertised the land for sale. It includes sweeps of mountainside grazing land, some forestry and several lakes on Mount Brandon, which creates a natural barrier between the two sides of the Dingle Peninsula.

The Conor Pass, which zigzags over the mountain for about 12km, provides a weather-dependent shortcut with dramatic scenery that attracts local traffic as well as huge numbers of tourists.