Limerick Greenway bike provider pulls out

THE HUGELY popular Limerick Greenway has been left without a dedicated bicycle service this summer.

It comes after the Dublin company which the council loaned €300,000 to, to get the service up and running, pulled out of its contract three years early.

For the opening years of its operation, a bike hire business has been in place on the 40km link between Rathkeale and the Kerry border.

Now, Limerick Greenway Bike Hire, operated by the Lazy Bike Tour Company Ltd, a Dublin-based firm designated to rent bikes at three locations on the greenway will not provide a service this summer.

However, a number of localised bike hires are still available.

Independent Newcastle West councillor Jerome Scanlan says “it looks dreadful” for the greenway not to have a full-time bike provider, adding that the hire of bikes along the route is “up in the air” following the move.

Three facilities - at Abbeyfeale, Newcastle West and Rathkeale - which the firm operated from are now out of action.

For the time being at least, it’s hoped smaller bike hire companies will pick up the slack to provide some kind of service.

This Tuesday, council began advertising the use of its bike hire buildings at Rathkeale, Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale through GVM Auctioneers

“The council has supported other bike hire operators over the past three years with some receiving funding under the Leader rural redevelopment programme. In addition, it is open to any bike hire operator to apply to council for a permit to ‘drop and collect’ bikes at the three greenway car parks,” a council spokesperson said.

Limerick Greenway Bike Hire - which declined previous media requests to comment - provided 280 bikes, according to council director Gordon Daly.

It was Cllr Scanlan, who back in 2021, argued against the awarding of the contract to the firm from the capital, saying smaller operators should instead be allowed to “scale up” as demand for the greenway grew.

His call fell on deaf ears, however, with the council saying it had “identified the need for an operator of scale to specialise in bike hire with a full shuttle service.”

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The council loaned the company €300,000 to get its operation up and running.

Mr Daly confirmed in a written answer to Cllr Scanlan that the firm still owes €195,149.50, based on an interest rate of 0.5%, with the loan needing to be settled by June 2026.

“It looks dreadful,” said Cllr Scanlan. “Council should never have become involved in this. We are not a bank.”

“We are meant to keep business local. We have an enterprise section in the council, and this kind of nonsense goes on,” he added.