John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

300. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the development of Coillte walking and cycling trails in the Clydagh Valley and in the south County Kerry area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44968/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Coillte was established as a private commercial company under the Forestry Act 1988 and day-to-day operational matters, such as the management of their forest estate, are the responsibility of the company.

The matter was, however, raised with Coillte who advise that Coillte is Ireland’s largest provider of outdoor recreation with 12 forest parks, 290 recreation sites and more than 3,000 kilometres of waymarked trails nationwide.  The company added that it published, in 2012, an ‘Off-road Cycling Strategy’ that sets out the criteria for selecting suitable sites for off-road cycling and how those sites could be developed and managed in the future.

I am advised that one of the candidate sites identified as having potential for mountain bike trails was Rossacroo forest close to Killarney, but that, upon examination in 2016, this site was deemed unsuitable as it is constrained by environmental designations.  The company add that a further two sites were assessed in the South Kerry area but did not reach minimum criteria for scale and access to meet the criteria, set out in the Strategy.  The company advise, however, that there are many recreation sites available for walking in South Kerry and that, in its view, additional sites are not necessary to meet demand or projected demand at this time. I understand that information on all recreation sites is available at www.coillte.ie.