{"id":585205,"date":"2026-08-06T18:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T18:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/585205\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T18:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T18:26:13","slug":"we-rented-houses-at-first-but-then-said-lets-just-buy-a-caravan-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/585205\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We rented houses at first but then said: Let\u2019s just buy a caravan\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland\u2019s Coastline: Stories from our sea frontier<\/p>\n

New and emerging threats, from climate change to security in a more politically volatile world, put greater focus on Ireland\u2019s island status and our coastline.<\/p>\n

Stretching to more than 7,500km, the coast of Ireland\u2019s mainland and offshore islands covers roughly the same distance across Africa at its widest point, or the path of a flight from New York to Moscow.<\/p>\n

That distance creates challenges when it comes to policing a long coastline such as Co Cork\u2019s against drug traffickers. <\/p>\n

Elsewhere, rising sea waters and changing weather patterns pose risks to existing homes and businesses situated next to the sea, including along the Co Wexford coast.<\/p>\n

The coastline is also a vital resource for the tourism and leisure industries, bringing value to the local economies of the 19 counties that touch the Atlantic Ocean, the Irish Sea and the Celtic Sea. <\/p>\n

In this series, The Irish Times looks at lives and lifestyles around the country\u2019s coastline along with the challenges facing some on the island\u2019s sea frontier.<\/p>\n

From Easter to October, Dublin native and resident Edel Quinn embraces a different dimension of existence. She calls it \u201cAchill time\u201d.<\/p>\n

This simply involves living to the metronome of the tides, the slant of the sun, the pounding of the rain, the music of the pub and the flavour of the locally smoked salmon bought in Keel at the Saturday market.<\/p>\n

Since her two children were young, this caravaner has been crossing the Shannon every year for an extended holiday in the sandy banks of Keel Camping park.<\/p>\n

Quinn, from Clontarf, works as a special needs assistant at Dublin 7 Educate Together National School, which is a perfect job for taking extended holidays. However, her love of outdoor living began when she was much younger.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were teenagers we used to camp at the weekends and during holidays in Lacken in west Wicklow, where Daddy had a farm,\u201d says Quinn. <\/p>\n

\u201cThen, when my son Daniel was 14, back in 2003, he came here to Achill<\/a> to the Gaeltacht with his two older cousins and I clearly remember visiting him with my daughter Molly, who was only nine months at the time. I pitched a little tent right over there, in the wind and the rain, and was very surprised and relieved it didn\u2019t blow away. That was my first time in Achill.\u201d <\/p>\n

Twenty-three years later, Daniel is living in Japan but his mammy is sitting outside her caravan with Molly, a journalism graduate from Technical University Dublin. Edel\u2019s caravanning sister Anne Marie Brady from Rathcoole is there too, as well as their friend Caroline Commons, a primary schoolteacher from Kiltimagh.<\/p>\n

They are laughing as a passerby asks them will they be serenading the campsite again that night with Neil Diamond songs.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe beach at Keel, Achill, is just 50 metres from the caravan park where Molly and Edel Quinn spend their summers. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Molly is planning a day of swimming, reading, relaxing and probably an early evening drink down the village in The Annexe or The Basking Shark with the gang.<\/p>\n

Long gone are the summers when she slept with her mammy on an airbed under the awning of auntie Anne Marie\u2019s caravan.<\/p>\n

In 2014, after 11 years of camping, Edel left Achill and the following day bought the Compass Corona five-berth they are now sitting outside, for \u20ac7,000.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, the family\u2019s seasonal bilocation comes naturally to Molly since a few of their neighbours in Dublin also happen to be neighbours on Achill.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of those families have bought houses here since but we still see them, obviously. When we were teenagers we\u2019d be out swimming and surfing and messing around. <\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time I was 15 or 16 I\u2019d bring a friend down sometimes, but then when I reached 18, I started working down here in the food truck over on the green and here on the campsite, which was great, as I literally rolled out of bed every morning,\u201d says Molly.<\/p>\n

\"EdelEdel and Molly Quinn on Keel beach in Achill, Co Mayo. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd \"KeemKeem beach on Achill Island, Co Mayo. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd \"KeemKeem beach, Achill Island. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd \"PeoplePeople make their way down to Keem beach in Achill. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd \"KeemKeem Beach in Achill, Co Mayo. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd <\/p>\n

That relaxed attitude works perfectly fine for Lisa Fitzsimons, who has just joined the group. She has run Keel Camping with her husband Michael since 2023 and earlier this year they renewed their lease of the park from Mayo County Council<\/a>. Coincidentally, their association with the campsite also started out with family holidays.<\/p>\n

\u201cMyself and Michael started coming here about 20 years ago. I\u2019m from Galway and he\u2019s from Cavan and he was a kitesurfer and we used to come with our tent and pitch it at the back ditch down there. We\u2019d spend the day kitesurfing and then go off down the village and enjoy the craic in the pubs with everybody,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter our three children came along, we rented houses at first but then said, \u2018Let\u2019s just buy a caravan.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

So, like Quinn, they bought \u201ca seasonal pitch\u201d from the Nestors, the family who had run the park for three decades before their retirement.<\/p>\n

When the Fitzsimons took over in 2023 there were about 70 requests for seasonal pitches \u2013 from March to October \u2013 but they wanted to adapt such long-stays to become more economically viable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pandemic had led a lot of people to buy caravans, but we couldn\u2019t have run a viable campsite if we allocated 70 pitches for seasonal use. Instead we have come up with an option that anyone staying from 29 days to 60 or 90 days receives a 15 per cent discount. So the charge for 30 days for a caravan with two adults, the awning and electricity, is \u20ac1,200,\u201d Fitzsimons explains.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople take in the view of Keem Bay in Achill, Co, Mayo. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd \"PeoplePeople enjoy the view above Keem Bay, Achill, Co, Mayo. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd \"BeachgoersBeachgoers enjoy a game at Keel in Achill, Co Mayo. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd \"PeoplePeople enjoy the sun on Keem beach in Achill, Co Mayo. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd \"AA person walks along Keel beach in Achill, Co Mayo. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd <\/p>\n

Of the 160 pitches in the park, there are 40 caravans using the \u201clong stay\u201d option, with a long waiting list and 13 inherited seasonal pitches.<\/p>\n

With 20 staff working between the campsite, shop, the various facilities and The Lost Sheep Food Truck, she says they are so busy they haven\u2019t time to answer the phones.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have to put a message on our phones saying sorry we are fully booked until August 3rd, please email us if it is for another time and we\u2019ll get back to you,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, an unfortunate fallout from the pandemic is the number of wild campers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look out here at the commonage and over on the sand dunes, there are about 50 or 60 tents and vans camping with absolutely no facilities. We have people arriving to our reception every day pleading that they\u2019ve no running water, they\u2019ve no toilets, they have no rubbish bins and could we help,\u201d says Fitzsimons. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey might offer a fiver to empty their chemical toilets and their bins. We decline as the campsite is for our guests.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Camping in Ireland: Holiday for less than \u20ac500 a week for a family of fourOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Before her husband calls her away, she confirms that the county council is working with the owners of the commonage to try to resolve the issues, but quips she has no problem quoting the \u201cLeave No Trace\u201d ethos to these campers.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, it is almost time for a swim for the others, with the sun shining high in the sky and a full tide beckoning across the sand dunes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe weather has just been fantastic this summer,\u201d says Edel Quinn. \u201cBut I always come with about six raincoats and my Crocs.\u201d<\/p>\n

She loves the wet and windy days too. After all, they are an integral part of \u201cAchill time\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn those days we do the Deserted Village walk. It is about 12km. We do a loop up the Slievmore road and you come out in Dooagh and there is a lovely pub called Lordys where we just might stop for one, to help us get back down the road again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tomorrow: Sorcha Crowley with surfers on the Sligo coast<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s Coastline: Stories from our sea frontier New and emerging threats, from climate change to security in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[79176,72,61,60,16254],"class_list":["post-585205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-achill-island","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mayo-county-council"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}