Thousands of visitors will be unable to visit Dursey Island this coming tourist season as the country's only cable car will be out of action so that essential maintenance work is carried out.
In a statement this lunchtime, Cork County Council said recent bad weather events including Storm Barra in December have impacted on the cable car's metal towers - in situ since 1977.
The council has been advised that given their age, condition and likely exposure to further strong winds, the towers must be reinforced or replaced, and so there will be no service from 1 April to and from the island for residents, farmers, and tourists until these essential structural works are complete.
The service is expected to resume in November.
In recent years a trip on the Dursey Cable Car has become one of the highlights and successes of the Wild Atlantic Way tourism initiative, attracting thousands of visitors to the remote area annually.
However that decision is now the subject of a judicial review by a number of parties, including Friends of the Irish Environment and An Taisce.
The country's only cable car, and the only cable car in Europe to traverse open seawater, was officially opened in 1969 following a campaign by islanders often stuck on the island for weeks on end because of raging seas that made it impossible to cross the Dursey Sound by boat.
Cork County Council says it will contacting residents and land users on Dursey Island.
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