Tourism in Westmeath: Dozens of suggestions put forward
Dozens of suggestions relating to the development of tourism in Westmeath were made by members of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad following a presentation on the subject by Westmeath tourism officer, Una Doris, at the July meeting.
Improved facilities for angling, more accommodation, the provision of museums, access trails, ‘caminos’ for cyclists and walkers, the installation of improved signage were just some of the suggestions made.
At the suggestion of the mayor, Cllr Mick Dollard, it was agreed that councillors should submit their suggestions to Ms Doris.
A flavour of the thinking is presented below:
Cllr Denis Leonard suggested development of an ‘east Westmeath tourism trail’. While Athlone and Mullingar are well promoted, he said, there could be a tail from Moate to Rathowen, taking in the Hill of Uisneach,and there was also potential for the east of the county, taking in the bogs of Rochfortbridge, the forestry of Milltownpass, the 15 historical sites around Kinnegad, Killucan with its railway station and historic buildings; the ecosystems around Raharney; the untapped literary history of Delvin, and then Castlepollard, Tullynally Castle and Fore as well as Multyfarnham and its friary.
He pointed out, however, that there since Harry’s Hotel became a centre for refugees, there is no longer any place for cyclists, backpackers or walkers to stay in much of that area.
Cllr David Jones felt not enough is being done to promote smaller communities, such as Delvin, Clonmellon, Castlepollard and Delvin, but he looked forward to progress on the ‘Castlepollard camino’. He also contended that Coole, Delvin, Raharney – areas with a lot of boglands – weren’t receiving the benefit they should from the Just Transition fund, and made the case for having audio-guided heritage trails.
Cllr Niall Gaffney was impressed with the Hidden Heartlands site, and wanted a calendar of Westmeath events drawn up so visitors might find more than one activity or event whenever they choose to visit the area. He was also concerned about accommodation provision.
Cllr Gaffney also suggested that more be made of the county’s potential as an angling destination.
The view of Cllr Alfie Devine was that the whole north of Westmeath was being undersold, especially given that it has plenty of accommodation available.
He suggested that the old Bord na Mona yard at Coolnagun would be “an unbelievable place” for a museum, and disclosed that locally, that possibility is being examined. He also felt the use of QR codes on signage in villages would be beneficial.
Cllr Ken Glynn said for years, Mullingar was playing catch-up to Athlone, but it had its own “crown jewels” in the form of Belvedere, which he hoped would be linked with the town via a cycleway; he spoke of the need to follow through on talks about providing a museum that would promote the military, transport, music and sporting successes of Mullingar.
“What we really need to be doing for Mullingar, we need to be looking at the gaps, and we need to be trying to fill them,” he said.
Cllr Julie McCourt was also of the view that QR codes could be useful at locations of historic interest in Mullingar; she suggested also promoting the Children of Lir story and the links with the Jonathan Swift work, Gulliver’s Travels.
Cllr Aoife Davitt felt that while Westmeath has so many diverse offerings, and was lucky to have such diversity, it was spread out, meaning it can be difficult to harness them all.
She felt the tourism potential of the lakes was under-utilised, and suggested provision of a lido – “like a tidal pool” – at the diving boards, and also suggested the use of electronic notice boards at the entrance to town to advertise what is going on. Cllr Davitt also suggested creation of a “cycling camino”.
Cllr Andrew Duncan said there’s no other county in Ireland that has as many large lakes as Westmeath: “There’s anglers on the canal that come up here every week from some part of Kerry to fish for tench. There are anglers every day of the week, every single day of the week, going to all of these different lakes. And during the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s, you had what was called the Inland Fisheries Trust, which was then split up into different regional fisheries, which sole role was to develop the lakes as an angling resource,” he said, adding that at that time, angling was Westmeath’s biggest draw. He said that needs to be reinvented.
Cllr Bill Collentine said there should be a camper van site in Mullingar. He also spoke of the suitability of the canal for water sports, including water polo.
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