Forestry group announces big plans for forest in Kildare
Representatives for Coillte detailed the plans at a recent Kildare County Council meeting
A State-owned forestry business has announced big plans for a popular forest located in County Kildare.
The plans were detailed by two representatives from Coillte, who delivered a presentation to Kildare County Council (KCC) and local councillors representing the Clane-Maynooth Municipal District (MD) last week.
At the latest MD meeting, which took place on Friday, June 5 last, the presentation explained Coillte’s proposals for Donadea Forest Park.
Their slides focused on a project to upgrade the park, which was being carried out in collaboration with KCC and Fáilte Ireland.
UPGRADES
The two representatives detailed the changes to the councillors — first, they revealed that the Strategic Design Plan for Donadea Forest Park is now in the final stage, following a public consultation which took place in December of 2024
Coillte is also preparing to open a €2 million ZIPIT site for the location, in order to bring more activities to the area.
The site, which the two reps asserted is family-friendly, will open up next month, and will have limited opening hours (referring to weekends and school holidays).
There are also plans to contribute to the conservation of Donadea Castle, which has been around since the 12th Century.
According to the reps, a management plan in relation to this particular effort was previously circulated to KCC, the Heritage Department and the Community Monuments Fund.
Furthermore, for the Desmense region, the reps noted that a survey was completed back in 2022 and claimed that a ‘multi-year’ plan is in place in order to guide Coillte with its implementation of improvements to the area.
Q&A SESSION
Once the presentation concluded, the reps opened the floor to questions from the councillors in attendance.
Independent Cllr Pádraig McEvoy asked one of the reps when the public will get a preliminary report on the project.
In response, the rep said that this report ‘is in the final stages’, and it would likely be released ‘in Q3 of this year’.
Cllr McEvoy also spoke again to tell the reps that he wanted to point out that climate change is having knock-on effects which are leading to closures due to certain events affecting the forest, some of which may include, for example, droughts, storms and bad winds.
One of the reps agreed with this assertion, and told the other councillors: “We need to get that message out there, 100 per cent.”
Fianna Fáil Cllr Donna Phelan also asked about car parking fees, and a rep told her that there is an annual pass, which costs €50, for all forests which are managed by Coillte.
Cllr Phelan also welcomed the upcoming opening of the ZIPIT site.
Following her question and comment, Fine Gael Cllr Tim Durkan then asked the reps if the current car park at Donadea Forest Park could ‘cater for the demand’.
A rep subsequently said that the car park has expanded, and noted that the barriers there had recently been moved in order to allow for the safe queuing of vehicles.
“There is significant available capacity in the car park,” the rep added. “There are bus bays there too.”
Cllr Durkan’s party colleague, Cllr William Durkan, then asked the reps if they had an estimated timeline in relation to the planned upgrades to Donadea Castle.
He also enquired about the source of funding for the changes.
This prompted one of the reps to reply: “We cannot do this on our own [in reference to funding]; we would need additional support.”
And although they did not provide an estimated timeline to Cllr Wiliam Durkan, the rep maintained that the project ‘has significant potential’.
Labour Party Cllr Angela Feeney then asked the reps about the current state and number of toilet facilities in Donadea Forest Park.
In response, one of the reps admitted: “They are not sufficient at the moment, and we understand the concerns about them, but it will feed into the larger plan.”
“We will work on it,” they asserted.
Lastly, Social Democrats Cllr Peter Melrose asked the reps about the long-term plans for the Castle and Tower, in addition to asking if the construction of a playground was being considered.
Regarding his first query, one of the reps told him: “We will look into the Castle and Tower.”
As for the second query, they said: “The feedback we got [from the public consultation] was basically 50 / 50; parents were split on it.”
They also explained that they think believe that it would be better to encourage ‘wild play’ on a walking trail, so that way children can play while also learning about and exploring Donadea Forest Park.
At the conclusion of the open forum session, the Mayor of the MD, Fine Gael Cllr Brendan Wyse, thanked the Coillte reps for the presentation.
He commended the organisation for ‘always being helpful’ and for ‘always providing comprehensive updates’.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme