Our Rural Future: Today Minister Humphreys announced €362,000 in funding to develop outdoor adventure projects in Laois-Offaly. This includes an allocation of €50,000 towards Derryounce Lakes and Trails Development Plan and Technical Designs.
Investment in outdoor recreation is vital for rural Ireland, both for the people who live here and the tourists who visit. We all need to get out into our forests, mountains, and bogs for the sake of our physical and mental health.
Fortunately we are rich in such landscapes in the Midlands and I’m delighted to see €112,518 being spent on developing an overflow car park at Glenbarrow, Rosenallis, improving accessibility to the Slieve Bloom Mountains, the allocation for the trail development plan for Derryounce Lakes in Portarlington and a 400m river walk along the Brosna in Clara receiving €200,000 today’s announcement.
I enjoyed a visit to Derryounce in September where I met with Mary Keogh, Centre Co-ordinator at Portarlington Enterprise Centre and Colm Powell, who took me around Derryounce on his "bog buggy".
My Green Party colleague and Local Area Rep, John Holland joined me in welcoming the funding for the trail development plan and design at Derryounce, saying:
I'm delighted to hear that Derryounce Lakes & Trails is receiving this funding to further develop what is a wonderful leisure and nature amenity for the Portarlington area. The Portarlington Community Development Association is to be commended for securing this funding and I hope to see further funds secured once these development and technical plans are completed.
I would like to echo John's words and I look forward to watching the progress and ultimately exploring all of these new opportunities for outdoor leisure throughout Laois-Offaly.
Read the full Press Release at gov.ie