New phase of Monksland walkway is officially opened
Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys officially opened a number of projects across Roscommon last week including the new Monksland Way walking trail.
Minister Humphreys visited the Roscommon side of Athlone on Tuesday, July 19 where she opened the latest element of the Monksland Way trail, which is a series of three walks, totalling 6.9km, and which details the heritage of the area. The project received €200,000 in funding under the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme to enhance the amenities in the area.
The most recent element of the walks links the Cushla Park pitches to the roundabout at Ganly's.
Speaking at Monksland Way, Minister Humphreys said: “The community here in Monksland have done a tremendous job in developing this new walkway which will be used by people of all ages. This is an excellent example of what can be achieved when people work collaboratively for the benefit of the wider community.
“The projects that I'm visiting today received an overall investment of over €7.5 million in funding so that really is a significant investment and it's a credit to the communities for working so close with your Oireachtas members, your local council in order to secure funding of that scale.
Minister Humphreys added: “You've done a wonderful job in developing this new walkway. It's a great way of connecting people with nature and with the natural environment and it's going to be used by people of all ages.
“It's a wonderful amenity to have. During Covid we all started to realise what we have. We didn't realise we had so much within our own community so being able to develop the walkway will be a wonderful asset to everybody. It's about investing in projects that make our communities in rural Ireland better places to work, to live and to raise a family.”
The Department for Rural and Community Development have also approved a further half a million euro under the Town and Village Scheme for the first phase of the central park in Monksland.
The project will see the development of a performance area and a series of walking trails. It's scheduled to be completed by September 2023.
The Minister then went on to visit the site of the Life Sciences Hub Project in Monksland, officially opened an upgrade of Portrunny Harbour Upgrade, visited Athleague to view the works carried out with the €300,000 investment under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme and CLÁR.
The Minister then went on to Roscommon Town, where she officially opened Loughnaneane Park which received funding from of €340,000 from her Department.
In Castlerea, she turned the sod at the An Chistín Food Hub to commence phase 2 of the development of a new food innovation hub that will be used by start-up businesses and for training purposes and her final stop on this visit to Roscommon was to Boyle. Here she officially opened an exhibition at King House which received over €2 million in funding under the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund.