*Photograph: Joe Buckley
CLARE’s first public dog park is on course to open in Shannon next month.
Fencing works have been completed at the site of the pilot public dog park at Illaunmanagh with the final construction aspects of the project nearing completion.
An opening next month is on the cards for what will be the county’s first dog park.
Elected members of the Shannon Municipal District all pooled funding from their General Municipal Allocation (GMA) with each councillor giving €5,000 each for the project. Funding was also secured from the Department of Rural & Community Development under the Dog Control Support Initiative. The lands in Illaunmanagh where the park is located were owned by the Council whereas other lands in the Shannon MD will likely have to be acquired for use as a dog park.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG) who is the only Shannon Town based representative on the Council described it as “a great project”. He outlined, “it is three times bigger than the one in Mungret” and that an opening for the middle of July is looking likely.
Cllr Mulcahy added, “I’m delighted to see it, this Council group in the Shannon MD has pulled together with the Council Executive, people have asked for things that they would like to see, all of us had different projects that we would like to see come to fruition, we set out a five year programme and each of us have contributed towards this and planning a dog park for Shannon. We formed an agreement about four months ago on foot of a number of motions, we can have all the motions we want but we need to deliver on them and we are delivering on this dog park”.
He said the new dog park has also enabled the opening of a gateway to St Senan’s RFC’s second pitch which will improve safety by preventing people from parking on the road.
Both Cllr Rachel Hartigan (FF) and Cllr James Ryan (SF) tabled motions before the Council and Shannon MD seeking the development of dog parks over the past year. Works are continuing for the development of additional dog parks in South Clare with the Shannon MD office running an online survey (https://yoursay.clarecoco.ie/dog-parks) to gauge the views of the public on future locations.
