Initial funding sought for overhaul of Athlone’s Market Square area

Westmeath County Council has sought funding for the first phase of a project that would involve a major revamp of Market Square in front of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Athlone.

In recent years the local authority signalled its intention to overhaul Market Square and turn it into a more open space that would be designed for "flexible public use and events".

A report prepared for the council's finance committee meeting on May 25 revealed an application had recently been made for central Government funding towards phase one of what's being billed as the 'Athlone Tourism & Cultural Quarter'.

If the funding of up to €150,000 is approved, it would be spent on "a project-led regeneration initiative" to transform Market Square into "a high-quality, people-focused civic and cultural space at the heart of Athlone town centre," the council stated.

The funding is being sought under a tranche of the scheme to progress plans or initial designs to create a pipeline of funding for future projects.

A new-look Market Square was one of the proposals outlined in an Athlone Urban Design and Regeneration Framework which was prepared on behalf of the council and published in May 2024.

The Urban Design and Regeneration Framework report said there was "an opportunity to reclaim Athlone's Market Square and its historical use - as a market place - through positive placemaking".

The report added that the "framing" of the square by Athlone Castle, the Luan Gallery, and the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, could be used to create "a lively cultural centre".

An initial artists impression of what the redeveloped square might look like shows it hosting an outdoor food market, with all of the existing parking spaces in the square removed.

The funding application was made by the council to the Government's new Towns and Cities Regeneration Investment Fund, which is replacing its previous Urban Regeneration and Development Fund.

Other projects for which Westmeath County Council has sought funding from the Towns and Cities Regeneration Investment Fund include the planned 170-metre boardwalk on the eastern river bank of the Shannon in Athlone, and the enhancement of the Athlone Castle exhibition space.

The boardwalk and Athlone Castle funding applications were made to a funding category that supports applications for up to €7.5 million in certain areas and up to €9 million in others.