Online petition seeks ban on campfires at popular Mayo beach
AN online petition has been launched to ban campfires at one of Mayo's most popular beaches.
The petition also calls for Mayo County Council to employ wardens to pick up rubbish at the beach in Keem.
The Achill beach has attracted big numbers during the fine weather the county has been enjoying, its profile having been raised massively having featured prominently in The Banshees of Inisherin.
Over the bank holiday weekend the road to Keem was closed as the beach reached capacity.
Now, an online petition, which has been signed by 700 people to date, is calling on Mayo County Council to protect Keem Bay. The My Uplift campaign was created by environmentalist Saoirse McHugh.
Specifically, the campaign wants to see campfires banned in Keem and wardens employed to pick up rubbish off the beach.
The campaign page sets out: 'Keem Bay is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world but despite that there is no plan for sustainable tourism.
'This is putting Keem at risk.
'There should be no campfires allowed as they are destroying the land and risking a large fire taking off in the area.
'Also, there should be staff employed to enforce this and clean up the beach after every day. Yes, it would be perfect if people cleared away their own rubbish but that doesn’t happen so the council needs to come up with a plan.
'Keem brings in thousands of tourists to Mayo every year and yet there is no effort to protect it from the impact of that many people lighting fires and leaving rubbish.'
You can support the campaign at https://my.uplift.ie/petitions/protect-keem-bay.
Please sign and share. We’re asking Mayo county council to employ people to stop campfires in keem.
— Saoirse McHugh (@saoirse_mchugh) June 7, 2023
It’s only a matter of time before a fire catches like what happened in Dingle recently https://t.co/Ek9xenPoug