A major tourism development that would have newly expanded an existing rail museum in West Clare has been rejected by An Bord Pleanála.

The official body said that plans for the road and rail were turned down on road safety grounds.

The proposal was part of the West Clare railway tourist attraction where numbers have increased substantially since the return of the 117-year-old Slieve Callan steam engine in August last year.

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Last December, Clare County Council gave the go-ahead to the plan but the National Roads Authority appealed with the plan now rejected.

Builders would have been boosted had the contract gone ahead with the plan being to extend the restored West Clare Railway a further 2.5 miles next year.

The National Roads Authority (NRA) was approached on the rail line crossing the national secondary route between Kilrush and Kilkee and this appears to have been a sticking point.

The Irish Government had closed the loss-making West Clare Railway in 1961.

(BMcC/GK)