Capmsite Standards

Came across this little gem on Fáilte Ireland's website regarding registration of campsites

"Under the Tourist Traffic Acts 1939 - 2011 any tourism business calling themselves a caravan or camping park must be registered with Fáilte Ireland.

In order to register as a caravan & camping park, your business should consist of a site comprising 20 or more touring pitches and not more than 50 touring pitches per hectare.

There should be toilets and a washing-up facility provided within a permanent structure, and the site should be constructed, laid out, or adapted and properly equipped for use as a caravan or camping park."

Here's the regs Registration Regulations for Caravan and Camping Parks

Lough Rynn and Portumna (two sites I visited recently) both don't seem to comply yet they were built by Local Authorities.

Here's a list of registered facilities
Registered Campsites

Strand camping is not registered with failte Ireland we could we meet there minimum standards and to be honest exceed a lot of their tick box standards that don't actually have to be fit for purpose but why would I pay €1000 euro to register with them? I'd rather invest the money on the campsite.

You can still register with them with less than 20 pitches. Different classification though, still €1000

Exactly Bob but some people seem to confuse the needs and requirements of a campsite with that of an Aires when in fact they are two totally different things.
I suppose Aires are still relevantly new here and the more of them that open will help people see the difference.

The facility at Portumna is not a campsite and was not designed as such.
It was designed as a 'Motorhome Parking Area' and went through the planning process as such. A Motorhome Parking Area is basically a parking area (the clue is in the title) which is why no facilities other than a place to park are provided. A Motorhome Parking Area can comprise of any number of parking spaces
What Portumna does have, in common with other designated parking areas, is a services bay which includes facilities to empty a toilet cassette (black water), drain off waste (grey) water and a supply of potable water to refill fresh water tanks. A service bay is usually co-located with the parking but can be at another location. The three different services are sometimes not grouped together.

Finally, a Motorhome Parking Area is not a place for camping and any external activity which is normally carried on on a campsite pitch, eg. winding out awnings, putting out tables and chairs or sun loungers, BBQ's and cooking, hanging out laundry, etc., is not permissible.

I haven't looked at the planning for Portumna but from personal experience of being there all that I can see is that the Council have given camper vans larger parking spots in an otherwise free car park and proposes to charge a tenner per calendar day whilst all other services are provided by Waterways Ireland who we pay for the use.

So if you use the big bays at the back it's a tenner, everyone else is free or am I missing something?

Colin that looks too simple for a university trained council engineer tut tut