SPIKE ISLAND was officially handed over to Cork County Council yesterday for use as a tourist amenity amid efforts to develop it into an attraction comparable to Alcatraz in the US.

Alcatraz in San Francisco, which was only a prison for 20 years, attracts about 1.4 million visitors each year while Fort McHenry, off Baltimore, which served as a transit prison during the American Civil War, receives about 700,000 visitors annually.

Spike was first a prison in the mid-19th century, often the last place in Ireland prisoners saw before being transported overseas. At the time it held as many as 2,500 prisoners.

Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív officially handed the site over to the council yesterday on behalf of the Department of Justice and Law Reform.

Over the centuries the island has seen monastic settlements, penal colonies and military bases established on its shores.

Council officials are seeking proposals to develop tourism on the island and plan to secure a ferry service in the coming weeks.

The first visitors will be given walking tours of the island.

Cllr Jim Daly, mayor of Co Cork, said the official handover of the island represented the culmination of a long campaign by the people of Cork.

“We have campaigned for a number of years to have the island handed over to Cork County Council and today marks the culmination of the work of so many local politicians and residents,” he said.

Mr Ó Cuív said the handover was a special day for Cork and for him personally.

“Seventy-two years ago to the day, my grandfather Éamon de Valera stood here as the national flag, the Irish Tricolour, was raised for the first time over the island, when the Treaty ports were handed back to the Irish State.”

Martin Riordan, Cork county manager, said a master plan for the island would be published next spring.

“We hope to have made considerable progress in the planning process before the end of the year,” he said.

A website has been set up inviting the public to make suggestions as to how Spike Island should be developed as a tourist attraction: www.spikeislandcork.com

IrishTimes

(Image ©CorkCountyCouncil www.spikeislandcork.com)

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CORK COUNTY Council hopes to open Spike Island in Cork Harbour to the public by the summer as the first step towards developing the former prison island as a major tourist attraction, according to county manager Martin Riordan.

At the beginning a ferry will be used but the option of building a cable car for tourists from the mainland is being examined. He told The Irish Times the council aimed to allow the public access to the island as soon as possible once health and safety issues had been resolved, with a ferry connection from Cobh the most likely option at this stage for getting visitors on to the island.

“It remains our target to get people out on to the island by mid-2010. There’s a pent-up demand from a lot of people to get out to Spike, people who have a connection with the island through family or people who worked there and simply want to see the place,” he said.

Last July the Government transferred ownership of the 106-acre island including Fort Mitchel, which was used as a prison up until 2004, from the Department of Justice to Cork County Council to enable the council to explore the island’s tourism potential.

Mr Riordan said while the council would be preparing medium- to long-term plans for the development of the island as a tourist attraction, it was important that it should be opened to the public as quickly as possible but that this would have to be done in a controlled way.

“I want to make sure the people of Cork can go out to the island but, because of health-and-safety issues and the sheer size of the island, it will have to be done in a controlled and managed way through a number of trips each week during the summer months.”

A steering committee chaired by Brendan Tuohy, a former secretary general of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, was recently appointed to look at how the island and former prison could be developed as a tourist attraction.

Mr Riordan said while the steering committee would look at the long-term possibility of linking the island by cable car to Ringaskiddy, the only short-term option in terms of providing access is via a ferry service from Cobh, as happened when it was used as a prison.

“Historically, there was a wooden causeway from Haulbowline island to Spike and dealing with prisoners, they weren’t too concerned about health and safety,” Mr Riordan said.

“If the situation at the former steel plant on Haulbowline was resolved, Haulbowline could become an access point.

“But the idea of a cable car is an interesting one and we would like to generate ideas over time to keep the interest and excitement going and that’s one of the possibilities, but for the numbers we are talking about, initially, a ferry service is the way to do it.”

A website has been set up inviting the public to make suggestions as to how Spike Island should be developed as a tourist attraction, www.spikeislandcork.com

IrishTimes

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PLANS TO develop Spike Island in Cork Harbour as a major tourist attraction moved a step closer yesterday when an inaugural meeting was held of a special steering committee set up by Cork county manager Martin Riordan to develop the island.

Mr Riordan has said he hopes to open Spike Island to the public in 2010 through the provision of a ferry service, but the long-term hope is to develop the former prison into a major tourist attraction.

The Government transferred ownership of the island, including Fort Mitchel, which was used as a prison, from the Department of Justice to Cork County Council last July to enable the council explore the island’s tourism potential.

Speaking yesterday following the steering committee meeting, chairman Brendan Tuohy, a former secretary general of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, said he was hugely impressed by the enthusiasm for the project.

“There is huge enthusiasm for the project from the different agencies involved, who have all expressed their full support for the development of Spike Island. Over the coming months the process will seek the engagement of other interests in the Cork Harbour area.We are open to ideas and the views of interested parties will be taken on board. ”

He said the intention now was to advance the short and medium-term development of Spike Island as a tourism, heritage and recreational product in Cork Harbour.

A dedicated website has been established, and the public can contribute suggestions on the development. It can be accessed at www.spikeislandcork.com

The first known use of the 106-acre island was as a monastic settlement when a religious community was established on it in the 7th century. The first prison on the island dates from the 17th century following the end of the Cromwellian wars.

During the late 18th century and early 19th century it was used to hold prisoners to be transported to the West Indies and Australia, and during the 1850s John Mitchel (after whom the prison was renamed in 1938) was jailed on Spike for his involvement in the rebellion of 1848.

The island remained in British hands until July 1938, when the last British troops departed and the Tricolour was raised by Éamon de Valera. It was transferred to the Department of Justice in 1985, which operated a prison there until its closure in 2004.

Source: IrishTimes

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