Canoe facilities and services blocks are being provided at various locations around Lough Derg as part of an initiative aimed at promoting water-based activities on Ireland’s third largest lake.
Clare County Council has confirmed that the proposed Lough Derg Canoe Trail, which is scheduled for completion by January 2017, will see facilities installed in Killaloe, Ballycuggeran, and Scarriff, Mountshannon and Dromaan harbours.
The Trail project is an initiative of the Lough Derg Marketing Group and is being funded under the Lough Derg Stimulus Fund. Waterways Ireland is leading the design and development of the project in partnership with the Clare County Council, Galway County Council and Tipperary County Council.
Trail information signage is being provided at Canal Bank, Killaloe, where upgrade works to the existing slipway are also being undertaken. Works underway at the Mill Yard, Killaloe include the provision of trail information signage, a canoe storage rack and planting/screening of same. The works to Scarriff harbour include trail information signage, a canoe storage rack and screening and the installation of a new floating landing/launching step.
The works at Ballycuggeran include the provision of trail information signage, a canoe storage rack and screening, while Mountshannon will benefit from trail information signage, a canoe storage rack, and screening and the refurbishment of the existing service block. Dromaan harbour will see the provision of trail information signage, a canoe storage rack and screening and the construction of a new 3-unit service block and holding tank.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.