Local TD and Minister Patrick O’Donovan has made a New Year announcement of funding of €600,000 for the Limerick Greenway, for the Old Railway Station in Ardagh and the Abbeyfeale Hub. This will bringing a massive boost to both communities as it will allow for Limerick City and County Council to invest in visitor services on the Greenway in both Ardagh and Abbeyfeale.
“I’m delighted with this news from Minister Heather Humphreys. It’s great news for Abbeyfeale and for Ardagh and, it comes after already huge investment on the Greenway in other Communities including Templeglantine, Barnagh, Newcastle West and Rathkeale.”
“We know that since it officially opened the Greenway has been an enormous success. Over a quarter of a million visitors have visited the Greenway and this has made a huge impact to the County. This investment will further enhance the visitor experience in both Ardagh and Abbeyfeale, and I know it will make a big difference to both local areas.”
Patrick O’Donovan said that he first encouraged Limerick City and County Council to purchase the old Railway Station in Ardagh, so to see to this sort of investment being put into such a small village after the restoration work on exterior of the building had already been completed was just brilliant. “I had spoken to Minister Heather Humphreys on this recently, as I know she was disappointed when she couldn’t make the official opening of the Greenway. However she has told me that she would like to visit the project in the near future and see if for herself, and I hope to be able to arrange that shortly.”
“On the Abbeyfeale side, we saw recently further investment to get the Greenway completed to the county bounds at Kilmorna, and Kerry County Council are making great progress on the Abbeyfeale to Listowel leg, with further work towards Tralee and Fenit. This will put Abbeyfeale at the centre of a major tourism hub, so to be able to see this allocation to Limerick City and County Council for the town, is wonderful and is what I have been campaigning for.”
“People have given really strong feedback on the type of investment that they would like to see, and we in Government are responding positively. We have had really positive media feedback on the Greenway from international, national and of course local sources, and the feedback from the users of the Greenway itself is phenomenal. But while there are Government funds there to invest in it, we obviously want to make sure that we get as much of them as we can for Limerick, and to see the Greenway extended towards the City and beyond, which is what I planned when I was Minister for Tourism. So today’s news is another good step in that process.”
Patrick O’Donovan said he is hoping to arrange a visit from Minister Heather Humphreys to the Limerick Greenway early in the Spring, to see first-hand where the investment she has made has gone and how the Government money has been spent to deliver a state of the art amenity in the heart of Co. Limerick.
