Calls to promote tourism in North Kildare

A Fianna Fáil councillor for Leixlip has called on the council to consider publishing a booklet with a brief guide and update on local history and facilities in the Celbridge-Leixlip Municipal District.

Cllr Bernard Caldwell called for the publication at a recent MD meeting, telling the council that such a publication would help promote tourism in North Kildare.

Cllr Caldwell said that he was planning that in the next MD meeting when Local Property Tax was being discussed, that LPT funding could be considered for the project.

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He said that North Kildare, being on the Dublin border, “loses out on a lot of tourism”, and there was a need for a booklet highlighting all the attractions in the MD.

North Kildare, he said, has “a lot of structures, a lot of houses, a lot of rivers and a lot of walks”, and it was a question of promoting them to bring tourism into the area.

“We have the finest buildings in the country in our area, we've golf courses, beautiful walkways and canals”, he said, adding that LPT monies could be allocated towards publishing a booklet promoting the MD.

Supporting the motion, Cllr Nuala Killeen (SD) said the library and arts service provide a “fantastic” service to local history groups.

She said that perhaps the council didn't realise, but in Leixlip there are people giving cycle tours and local history tours, who had an “amazing depth of knowledge.”

She pointed out that the MD has The Wonderful Barn, that Guinness started in Leixlip, and that she believed there was an “untapped resource” in Leixlip that is not being used.

A council official, responding to councillors, said the local authority could organise an open day or open night during Heritage Week or at some other point to promote the MD.

However, he said, producing a booklet take a lot of time and resources, and a degree of expense.

A council report stated that publications such as that requested by Cllr Caldwell are more usually undertaken by local history groups or by individual local historians with the support of grant funding.

The report stated: “Kildare Arts Service provides annual grant funding for local history publishing. The call out for grant funding usually ends in February and all grant schemes are reviewed annually.

“If we had access to additional funding from the Municipal Districts, we could consider expanding an annual grant to support local history publications in each Municipal District.”

A second report from the CEO of Into Kildare noted that there is currently a county tourism brochure, which includes information on all municipal districts.

This brochure, the CEO added, is due to be update in 2026, subject to budget availability.

While a smaller leaflet focused specifically on the Celbridge-Leixlip MD was previously produced, it is now outdated.

Visitors are now directed to the tourism website, the report noted, where the most current information is available.