RIVERSIDE AMENITY PARK LAUNCH
CARRICK ON SHANNON, CO LEITRIM

Cllr. Gerry Reynolds, Cathaoirleach, Leitrim County Council today launched the Riverside Amenity Park development at Carrick on Shannon, Co. Leitrim.

This development is part of an overall linear park strategy adapted by Leitrim County Council.

This Riverside Amenity Park development by Leitrim County Council costing €1 Million, is part of an overall project to enhance the riverside amenity value of the water front in Carrick on Shannon.

To develop the waterways and promote the economic development of the waterside towns and villages, Waterways Ireland has recently invested €300,000 in the installation of 280 metres of public mooring space at the new jetty at the Quay in Carrick on Shannon. These new moorings facilitate greater access to the town by boaters by providing berths for an additional 28 boats. A new amenity service block to provide toilet and shower facilities for boat users will be completed before the end of the year. This element of the project is being co-funded by Waterways Ireland and Leitrim County Council.

The Riverside Amenity Park involves two separate contracts as follows
1. Construction and Installation of Boardwalk.
2. Landscape Works.

The Boardwalk will be set out onto the water of the River Shannon and include three square viewing platforms. It will be constructed from Greenheart hardwood timber and will be allowed to weather naturally. Stainless steel cable balustrades will be fitted along the sides of the boardwalk and viewing platforms.

The Landscaping design for the park includes native plants and trees, selected decorative shrub planting, several paved piazza's with urban lighting and seating and a new continuous pathway made from compacted bound gravel. This design will enhance public access, with openings for direct views to the river being cut into the native Alder tree clusters at rivers edge, thereby providing a modern urban ecological park to allow the public full enjoyment of the ecology of the River Shannon.

The design team involved in the project comprises Newenham Mulligan and Associates as Design Team Leaders and designers of the timber boardwalk, Stephen Diamond and Associates as Landscape Architect, Mulcahy McDonagh and Partners as Quantity Surveyors and Dr Mary Tubridy as Ecological Consultant.

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For further information, please contact:
Vincent Dwyer, Water and Environment, Leitrim County Council 00 353 71 9650466; or
Ms. Aoife Morrissy, Marketing and Communications, Waterways Ireland, 00 353 71 9650787 or 00 353 87 9918412.

Date: 20.06.2006
PR06016

From left: John McGuinness, Director of Services, Leitrim County Council; Ray Dunne, Western Regional Manager, Waterways Ireland; Cllr Gerry Reynolds, Cathaoirleach, Leitrim County Council; and Jackie Maguire, County Manager, Leitrim County Council.

Location: At the site of the new amenity service block at the quay in Carrick on Shannon.