Youghal Tourism Development CLG T/A Youghal Chamber of Tourism and Development

Last Wednesday we saw the official opening of Youghal Boardwalk, making it Ireland’s longest coastal boardwalk at 7km. The boardwalk marks completion of Phase 2 of the Department of Rural and Community Development’s Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme which has seen improvements throughout Youghal already. Speaking at the opening, Minister Humphreys said: “It is great to see first-hand the excellent work which has taken place over the last number of years here in Youghal and I know this boardwalk will bring huge benefits to the community, both from a health and economic perspective.” “I think you’ll all agree, that if we have learned one thing over the past 15 months, it’s that we rely more than ever on our outdoor amenities.” This will provide Youghal with yet another boost for tourism, and draw more people to our beaches!

The Heritage Council has announced that Cork County Council has received €40,000 in funding for repairs to a section of Youghal’s medieval wall under the Irish Walled Towns Network. When speaking about it after the confirmation Cork East Fine Gael TD, David Stanton said: “I am delighted to learn that the Heritage Council has granted considerable funding to Cork County Council for the much-needed repair of an important section of Youghal’s famous medieval town wall between North Main Street and Ashe Street. The award of €40,000 will enable the Council to conduct works to secure and repair a section of the wall leading towards the town’s historical Raleigh Quarter which remains closed as a result of a collapse.”

Very glad to see The Front Strand got some new wheelchair accessible picnic benches! Fantastic to have somewhere to rest on your way to or from the beach!

Celtic Interconnector is a proposed submarine power cable between the southern coast of Ireland and the north-west coast of France. It will be the first interconnector between the two countries. The interconnector power cables will reach landfall in Ireland at Claycastle Beach. From there they will travel underground to the converter station at Ballyadam and then on to the substation at Knockraha, also by way of underground cables. An enhanced community benefit scheme will be established to work with any affected communities. Fianna Fáil TD James O’Connor described the potential for Youghal town as “colossal” but stated that funding from EirGrid will a major benefit for the communities in East Cork. EirGrid has selected a site at Ballyadam near Carrigtwohill as the location to build a convertor station as part of a project which is set to create “colossal” potential for the East Cork area. The converter station at Ballyadam is an important part of the €1 billion electricity project, known as the Celtic Interconnector, that will allow the exchange of electricity between Ireland and France. The selected Ballyadam site is 10km by road from the Knockraha electricity substation and between Carrigtwohill and Midleton. The site is to the North of […]

The ‘Voices of St Mary’s’ project being developed for St Mary’s Collegiate Church, led by Helen Mulcahy and Aileen Murray of Cork County Council has finished development work as of September 2nd 2020. €250,000 in funding was provided by Fáilte Ireland and was match funded by Cork County Council, who have been caretakers of this national monument since 2005. Scroope Design Interpretive Consultants delivered a magnificent, and breathtaking interpretation of this beautiful church. The integrity of the Church has been maintained, with top priority. Scroope Design recognizing every step of the way that this building is first and foremost a place of worship. Entry to St. Mary’s has been, and will continue to be free of charge. That being said, a multi-lingual audio guide as well as a truly marvelous guided tour will carry a nominal fee. For the next week, they will be delighted, however, for visitors to sample the audio guide completely free of charge! Perfect time to come back and see what history you can learn! This project will be a wonderful addition that will only add to the number of options visitors can experience in Youghal.

The Youghal Boardwalk extension has had even more progress in recent weeks! A great boost for Youghal tourism as works get underway on the Youghal Eco-Boardwalk Extension. The extension will see the original 400 metre boardwalk at Claycastle Blue Flag Beach, which was completed in 2012 extended by 1.5km as far as Redbarn Blue Flag Beach. Once complete the route will form part of the National Coastal Walking Route and will span 1.9 kilometres. The Cork County Council project will significantly enhance the ‘beach experience’ for users, providing a formal pedestrian walkway from Redbarn beach into Youghal Town Centre, and is expected to be completed by October 2020. Last month the Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr. Mary Linehan-Foley – Independent, East Cork warmly welcomed the signing, commenting, “I am especially proud to sign this contact as County Mayor for what is a fantastic amenity in Youghal. The extension will see the original 400 metre boardwalk at Claycastle beach, which was completed in 2012 extended by 1.5km as far as Redbarn beach. The boardwalk is hugely popular and this further development is great news for Youghal and the community. It also offers an opportunity to raise awareness of the […]

The health and safety of our visitors & community is our top priority. We have put in place thorough measures to ensure all our guests and staff will have a safe, comfortable & enjoyable experience. Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, we have implemented the following changes to our store: Hand sanitizers available as you come inside. Floor markings and one way system implemented to ensure safe physical distancing. COVID-19 information posters are on display throughout the building. Signage is in place to encourage social distancing and respiratory etiquette. Frequent disinfection of all touch surfaces. We would encourage contactless payment where possible. Protective screen at the till for your safety and ours. Tour guides will be wearing protective face coverings during tours. Numbers are restricted in the heritage centre in line with social distancing guidelines. We already had a high standard of hygiene prior to Covid-19, these disinfecting regimes have now been intensified and are part of our daily routine to ensure all our guests and staff will have a safe, comfortable and enjoyable experience.

Youghal tourism is set to get another bonus as work on the current boardwalk gets underway. The extension will see the original 400 metre boardwalk at Claycastle beach, which was completed in 2012 extended by 1.5km as far as Redbarn beach. The contract, with a total value of €1.7M was the first undertaking of new Cork County Mayor, and Youghal’s own Cllr Mary Linehan Foley. Once finished the boardwalk will form National Coastal Walking Route and will span nearly 2 metres wide. This project will greatly enhance the beach experience of any visitors to Youghal. Creating a pedestrian walkway from Redbarn all the way into the Town Centre with work expected to finish in October of 2020. Phase 1 of these works have already finished and completion of the route will improve access, enhancing the experience of walkers and the two metre wide walking surface will improve accessibility for wheelchair users. This is great news for Youghal and everyone in the community down here.

Businesses throughout the Town have learned to adapt to the ever-changing stages of our roadmap to recovery. The more outside the box thinking the better the chance of surviving and eventually getting stronger during these uncertain times. We must realize that today it’s not just about yourself, it’s about working together, it’s about showing our families, our friends and our visitors that we are were here when it really mattered and we will continue to serve them well. Remember it important that we focus on domestic customers before we try to attract tourists from abroad. Traditional summer marketing of the town and our businesses through Festivals and Print Media are for next year. This year Billboards and radio campaigns with Red FM, 96 FM, Tipp FM and most importantly Community Radio Youghal are the way forward and must be prioritized. We are very conscious that we are at the dawn of online overload. Our message needs to get to our customers and we would strongly encourage our business community to avail of the advice and grants given by South Cork Enterprise Board in this regard. Our members and customers have made the following proposals for your consideration. • Youghal is […]

Youghal Chamber has a brand new Website. Our new website has more features, including Job Listings, member management, and business information. If you’re looking for information about Youghal Businesses this is the place to find it. The new website features: A user friendly map which features each business type split by a Category Icon, and their location Business information for each Chamber member and the ability to contact, if the information is provided. Membership Management feature in which the Administrator can enable / disable Members accounts, which would deactivate / de-list their listing on the website. A Jobs section allowing members / businesses in Youghal to advertise Jobs directly on the website through the chamber. An updated Events section allowing website visitors the ability to see upcoming events, and comment on them if desired Social Media sharing option on every page. and Social Media links to existing Youghal Chamber social websites Event Submission forms If you have any feedback, please feel free to Contact Us