- Coillte drops the masterplan for Portumna Forest Park.
- Community surveys gather almost 1100 responses supporting modest upgrades.
- Fifty-fivepc of respondents visit weekly or daily.
- Toilets require urgent replacement beyond the temporary facility.
- Local lobby groups seek funding and ongoing engagement with Coillte.
A residents lobby group in Portumna has asked for upgrades to the forest park. Community surveys collected almost 1,100 responses between December 2023 and September 2025. Respondents supported modest elements like biodiversity priorities and basic facility upgrades. Of the local residents, 55pc say they visit the park daily.
Locals are pushing for small vital upgrades after the plan ends. Toilets remain unusable with a temporary pit-latrine installed. The original toilet block dates to before the park opens in 1978. Maedhbh Gordon calls for community involvement in funding and engagement with Coillte.
Coillte has scrapped the masterplan for Portumna Forest Park in County Galway earlier this month. The original plan included a visitor hub with retail and cafe space shuttle service aerial activities and overnight accommodation. The Portumna Forest Park Community Group is mobilised against profit-driven tourism focus.
Maedhbh Gordon shared “The world is falling apart at the moment, so the value of that forest park is so important. We want to be part of the conversation as we are living right beside the park.“
Coillte shared in a written statement: Coillte, in partnership with Galway County Council and with the support of Fáilte Ireland, had been in consultation with the public and interested local community groups since 2023 on a draft vision for enhancing the recreational offerings in Portumna Forest Park. However, on 24th January 2025, Storm Éowyn caused unprecedented levels of damage to approximately over 26,000 hectares (ha) of Ireland’s forests with over 14,500 ha of that on the Coillte estate, primarily in the North-West of the country. To put this in context, over two years of harvesting material or over 50m trees were windblown in one day, creating significant challenges for Coillte and the wider Irish forestry sector. Productive forests, biodiversity forests and recreation forests and trails were extensively impacted at a financial cost to Coillte in excess of €60 million. Over 100 Coillte recreation sites were forced to close temporarily due to safety concerns. To date, 96 have reopened, with the four most severely impacted sites expected to reopen later in 2026.
A public consultation event held in Portumna in October 2023 marked the first opportunity for the community to review and comment on the draft plan. Details were also shared on www.portumnaforestpark.com, with consultation remaining open from October to November 2023. More than 290 submissions were received. These were analysed and summarised in a key findings report issued to participants and published online in October 2024. Coillte subsequently updated the Design Plan to reflect the feedback and continued stakeholder engagement throughout 2024 and early 2025 until Storm Éowyn hit on 24th January 2025.
