Council to look at developing water sports facilities
Work on a water activity hub in Carlow town park is moving to the next phase
UNDER the auspices of a presentation by Active Carlow at a meeting of Carlow Municipal District on 26 February, councillors got to discussing the possibility of developing water sports facilities around the county.
Cllr Fergal Browne suggested to the Active Carlow representative that they “drop into Teagasc” and ask if the lake could be used for swimming or paddle boating in the summer months. He said he was inspired by seeing solar-powered boats on a lake in Budapest.
“It’s frustrating. I mean, we have the fantastic Barrow river but there’s no place to swim in Carlow in the town end, where the population is based.
“There’s great work being done. Certainly, the facilities we have now in comparison with my younger days, it’s incredible. But the more we put in, the better. The knock-on effect for mental health, for fitness, for everything would be great.”
Deborah Foley of Active Carlow said Oak Park lake was out of bounds for swimming, describing it as “gross”, “full of algae” and “stagnant.” However, she said: “I can certainly open up a line of dialogue with them around, like, paddle boats or something. That type of thing might be lovely.”
She said there is no possibility of creating a safe swimming place along the river, but that she would look into the possibility of creating a pool from diverted river water.
Cllr Phelan asked for an update on the planned water activity hub in the town park, which he described as a “huge benefit to Carlow”.
In the same vein as cllr Browne, he noted: “That water activity hub would allow us to not turn our back as much on the river and embrace it and the activities associated with it as well.”
Ms Foley said, in relation to the hub, that they had responded to queries from the department and are hoping to move to the next stage. Her colleague Barry Knowles said they hoped to appoint a consultant for the project in the coming weeks and a contractor by the end of the year.
