THE Shannon-Bunratty Greenway has not been included in the over €1m funding announced for Greenways in Clare.
Over €1.2m has been allocated to deliver Greenway projects in Clare as part of the €360m Government funding announced for Active Travel and Greenways in 2026.
After spending the whole of last year fighting for funding for the Shannon-Bunratty Greenway, Shannon councillors are disappointed. With no mention of the Greenway in the €62m Greenway announcement nationwide, Cllr Patrick O’Gorman (FF) asked at Tuesday’s Shannon Municipal meeting, “Are we being forgotten about?”
As part of the Active and Sustainable Transport Investment Programme in the National Transport Authority (NTA), Greenway projects in Clare that will benefit are the Kilrush-Kilkee section of the West Clare Greenway (€500,000), the O’Briensbridge-Scariff section of the Limerick-Scariff Greenway (€350,000), the Ennis-Ennistymon Greenway (€200,000), and the Ennistymon-Miltown Malbay Greenway (€65,000).
“We were looking for a simple enough Greenway,” he continued. With a route nearly in place and landowners spoken to, councillors received €100,000 last year to go toward consultants for the project, but were stopped by TII. O’Gorman, sceptical that TII were the reason for their lack of funding, asked, “Is it ever going to be feasible with TII’s restrictions?”
Seconded by Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG), he questioned whether the Clare County Council had actually applied for funding for the Greenway. “Did we apply for that scheme?,” he asked, further requesting a list of what was applied for.
O’Gorman added, “We were talking about joining 10,000 people living in Bunratty, we don’t want to lose our section.”
Overall, €3,985,000 has been granted to the Clare County Council as part of the funding for projects such as the Ardnacrusha to Athlunkard Bridge, Ennis Cycle Links & Quietways, Ennis Town Enhancement, Bus Stop Enhancement, the Gort Road Cycling Scheme and the Ennis Local Transport Plan. Several Active Travel Schemes have also been included for the Gort, Tulla and Limerick Roads. As well as this,14 schools in the county will benefit from funding for the Safe Routes to School Programme.
