Funding has been announced to improve parking and entrance routes to three popular Coillte-owned forests in Donegal.
Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, has today announced €15 million in funding as part of a new five year strategic partnership with Coillte designed to boost rural tourism.
Within the package is €117,000 in funding for upgrade capital works at Ards Forest Park, Corryvaddy in Letterkenny and Drumboe Woods in Ballybofey/Stranorlar.
€100,000 has been allocated to reinforce the entrance road to Ards, where sea water erosion has damaged foundation, then resurface main access into car-park.
€55,000 will be spent at Drumboe and €25,000 in Corryvaddy on expanding car-parking facilities and upgrading the access road to the car-park.
Further investment will go into the maintenance of the following forests:
Coillte recorded a significant increase in visitor numbers to its Forest Parks and recreation sites over the past two years, with a doubling of visitor numbers at some of its most popular sites. Today’s funding announcement will assist Coillte in upgrading facilities to meet the increased demand for access to these amenities.