Funding of €220k for two cycleway projects

Funding of just under €220,000 has been allocated for work on two cycleway projects in Westmeath.

The first project is Phase 2 of The Lene Way, for which the sum of €106,360 has been provided. This will see the extension of the pedestrian/cycle link from the end of the existing path towards Lough Lene.

The second project, which has been allocated €113,400, is for provision of a shared walking and cycling link from the Old Rail Trail to Dún na Sí Amenity and Heritage Park on the Lake Road in Moate.

The allocations, from the Our Rural Future fund, were announced by Minister Heather Humphreys on Monday of last week; part of an overall €16.1 million investment in outdoor recreation projects right across the country.

In announcing the allocations, Minister Humphreys said the investments further underpin the government’s commitment to developing outdoor amenities as part of ‘Embracing Ireland’s Outdoors’, the national outdoor recreation strategy.

“Our beautiful outdoors have never been more available to us than today. With the summer months upon us, now is the time to enjoy the wonderful amenities right on our doorstep,” she said.

“The times of lockdowns are thankfully behind us but those times gave us all an appreciation of what our stunning outdoors had to offer us for our mental and physical wellbeing.”

Minister Humphreys said the allocations brought the overall allocation under the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme (ORIS) to over €129 million since it was first launched in 2016.

The announcement, on Monday of last week, is to see 69 outdoor recreation projects benefit, taking the total number of projects funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development, since its establishment in 2017, to more than 1,650 nationwide.