Improvement works planned at Limerick tourist attraction

ENHANCEMENT works are to take place at a popular Limerick tourist attraction.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) is planning a series of works at Desmond Castle in Newcastle West, which re-opened last Thursday for the summer season.

New signage and flagpoles are planned for the medieval castle, while consultants have been appointed to progress the long-term project of roofing the Halla Mór.

The OPW Minister and local TD Patrick O'Donovan was on his home turf in Newcastle West this week, where he had a tour of the castle ahead of its summer opening.

"Visitors can not only enjoy free entrance for guided tours of the medieval castle with one of the most impressive surviving banqueting halls in Ireland, but can also look forward to resting afterwards in the courtyard on additional seating that will be installed in the course of the 2022 season," he said.

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Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Desmond Castle welcomed 19,408 people last year, a record number in its 24 years of operation, and a 53% increase from 2019.

Mr O’Donovan said: "With the opening of the Limerick Greenway last year, Desmond Castle Newcastle West has been put on the map of many new visitors, whether they are local tourists or from further away, taking to their bikes to actively explore the beauty of West Limerick. Over 220,000 people used the Greenway in the first five months after it opened last July and I have no doubt it will enjoy enduring popularity and enhance the tourism appeal of the entire area, linking many exciting discovery points along the route from Rathkeale to Newcastle West and all the way to the Kerry border.”