Minister Heather Humphreys announces €3m in funding to develop and upgrade visitor amenities at Coillte Forest Parks across Ireland in partnership with Coillte
The funding will be used for various projects including new walking trails, carpark improvements, footbridges, and toilet facilities
Rossmore Forest Park in Monaghan remains the most visited Coillte Park in 2023 with 357,834 visitors
Projects across different Coillte Parks will benefit from the funding, such as car park entrance construction in Deerpark, pond rejuvenation in Belleek Wood, and trail surface improvements in Kilrush Recreation Forest Park:
- Belleek, Co Mayo: Belleek Wood Pond Rejuvenation Project. – €150,000
- Castlegrove, Co Galway: Trail enhancement works – €115,000
- Curragh Chase Forest Park, Co Limerick: Road & Cark Park Resurfacing – €40,000
- Deerpark, Co Cavan, Design & construction of new car park entrance to Forest – €200,000
- Donadea Forest Park, Co Kildare: Phase 1 of New Trail – €50,000
- Kilrush Recreation Forest Park, Co. Clare: Trail surface improvements works – €75,000
- Rossmore Forest Park, Co Monaghan: Installation of new toilets – €49,000
- Slieve Foye, Co Louth: Recreation infrastructure improvement works – €60,000
- Tibradden, Co Dublin: Carpark Improvement Works – Phase 1 – €80,000
Full details of the €3m funding being allocated to projects for 2024 are available here.
Minister Humphreys also today launched the report of the 2023 programme of investment which sets out the projects and outcomes from the investment provided to Coillte in 2023. This report can be found here.
Imelda Hurley, Coillte CEO said: ‘as Ireland’s largest provider of outdoor recreation, we’re delighted to welcome an estimated 18 million visits to our recreational areas from across Ireland and indeed, further afield. Getting out in nature has proven positive benefits for people’s wellbeing and we look forward to further developing our recreational amenities for everyone to enjoy.”
