Regarding wastewater infrastructure in Craughwell and Clarinbridge in County Galway, funding was announced three years ago for the provision of wastewater infrastructure in those villages. This was very important for the delivery of housing and I raised this before with the Minister at the infrastructure committee. Since then, that project has been at a standstill. In recent weeks, Government TDs welcomed an increase of several million euro in the allocation of funding for this project. However, the only reason this is needed is because the project has stood still and costs have increased in the meantime. The greatest barrier to delivery of this project is the 15% co-funding allocation expected of local authorities for such projects. That means Galway County Council would be expected to make a contribution of approximately €5 million. The local authority does not have this money and has not budgeted for it. When we talked about accelerating delivery, this issue needs to be sorted. It is a major barrier and needs to be taken out of the way to ensure delivery. Can the Minister commit to removing this co-funding requirement to ensure these projects can be delivered in a timely manner?
Sentiment score: 0.24
15. Deputy Louis O'Hara asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if public access can be facilitated at Athenry Dominican Priory; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [69834/25]
Sentiment score: 0.01
I want to ask the Minister if public access can be facilitated at the Dominican Priory in Athenry and also if consideration can be given to extending the opening season of Athenry Castle. It is closed now until March and it is a missed opportunity for the town.
Sentiment score: 0.12
As I am sure the Minister of State knows, Athenry is a heritage town. Within the town, we have a lot of really iconic landmarks and attractions, including the castle and the priory, which are under the remit of the OPW, but also the likes of the heritage centre and the town walls. There is incredible history in the town, and I think it is fair to say that there is a lot of frustration locally that we are being undersold in terms of our status as a heritage town and our tourism potential. We definitely have not reached our full potential for a town with such great heritage and history. There is a lot of great work going on locally to try to address that and I will come back to that. However, that some of our greatest assets are closed to the public is a major challenge. As I mentioned, the castle is closed now for the winter season until March. While I understand that access can be facilitated to the priory, there is a need to give a lot of notice. Also, I do not think there is a broad awareness among people who are visiting Athenry that there is the option to visit the priory. I ask the Minister of State to engage with the OPW on the opening arrangements for these sites and the promotion of these sites more broadly, which is a challenge.
Sentiment score: 0.33
I want to acknowledge the work of the OPW locally as well. The Minister of State mentioned the number of visitors visiting the sites. I had a parliamentary question recently and the response told me that in the region of 15,000 people visit Athenry Castle every year. That paints an overall picture for the number of visitors coming to the town but the same number of people would visit Galway city or Connemara on one weekend. We can do a lot better in Athenry in terms of the number of people visiting. I take the Minister of State's point about safety and maintenance of the structure and so on. However, I would ask that a particular effort be made around the promotion of that service being available to people, in that they can access this site because it is an iconic landmark, as I mentioned. I ask the Minister of State to comment on the opening season for the castle. It is a missed opportunity that from November to March it is closed. There is a lot of great work going on locally. Galway County Council has plans for a heritage trail, heritage event spaces and a River Clarin walkway. Great efforts are being made to enhance our tourism offering but we need all the stakeholders coming together to push this forward and the OPW is an important part of it.
Sentiment score: 0.24