‘Coastal tourismvision’

She was speaking at a meeting in Ballycastle where her brother, Independent councillor Padraig McShane, said council involvement in a camper van scheme at Ballintoy Harbour is putting the private sector “to the sword”.

The Council has received letters of offer regarding funding for the Ballintoy scheme along with similar correspondence for the installation of solar-powered waste bins which ‘text’ the Council hq when they are full.

Cllr Cara McShane said the Council vision is coastal tourism and they should be capitalising on it and that such schemes can only advance the area.

But Cllr Padraig McShane said if the Council had been so ambitious regarding tourism in the past they would have backed his suggestion that the local authority bought up the Marine Hotel at the time when it was closed but that his idea was “shot down”.

However, the meeting heard, that the Council had previous involvement in direct tourism, like the running of caravan sites, which didn’t work out.

Cllr Cara McShane said the fact is that camper vans currently gather at Ballintoy Harbour any how.