Elation in west Limerick but anger in the east at €10m funding allocation

ALMOST €10 million in funding is to go towards developing hubs along the Limerick Greenway. 

The €9.6 million will benefit Abbeyfeale,  Ardagh, Barnagh and Newcastle West.

It's expected that the project will help to create mini destinations, trailheads and service hubs along the popular greenway route. 

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The greenway runs along the old railway line connecting Rathkeale, Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale with the Kerry greenway. 

A further €3.9m from the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund   has been granted for the refurbishment of the historic Fullers Folly building and courtyard in Newcastle West.

Thirty projects across the country were approved for funding, however, one promising project in Kilfinane failed to get over the line leading to much disappointment locally. 

The Market House in Kilfinane (pictured above) was not approved for funding. 

Twenty-eight interested groups had made submissions supporting the development of the project, as people in Kilfinane believe the building is in a derelict state and could be in danger of collapse, if it is not redeveloped. 

Finbarr Connolly of the Kilfinane Coshlea Historical Society told the Limerick Leader this Tuesday that the feeling in Kilfinane upon hearing that the project funding bid was unsuccessful, was one of dejection and exasperation, saying people are “raging”. 

“The town had been led to believe that the historic Market House building, in front of which the patriot Staker Wallace was executed in 1798, and which had been at the forefront of the town's social and commercial activities throughout the 19th century, would be restored to something like its former glory,” he said.