Calls for feasibility study for potential EuroPark for North Leitrim
Slight fear around it causing some unintended consequences
Cathaoirleach Cllr Justin Warnock was told "it is not evident what level of support, if any, there is for the objective from the other local authorities involved, namely Sligo and Roscommon County Councils" when he asked what engagement there has been with the North West Regional Assembly (NWRA) in relation to the feasibility study to be undertaken about the potential of a National Park/ EuroPark for North Leitrim and the Sliabh an Iarainn area.
He revealed that north Leitrim is involved in another European scheme, the GREENHEALTH project, that is driven by the NWRA with several other European countries involved.
Cllr Warnock said: "We have a number of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and they want to see how those are working."
Regarding the feasibility study, he continued: "It could be very beneficial for north Leitrim and the Sliabh an Iarainn area and it's something you build from the ground up and you set the parameters so that it doesn't affect the local people or have any negative impact."
He added: "It's the future plan that you would be worried about; all the wind turbines, all the forestry, all the gold mining etc. should all be taken into account. I think it's something that needs to be progressed."
Cllr Mary Bohan said that members want to make sure that "it doesn't, in any way, affect the difficulties we have at the moment with planning and we wouldn't create any other conditions."
Cllr Padraig Fallon said there was "a slight fear around it causing some unintended consequences".
Cllr Warnock said there are a lot of "EuroParks across the continent".
He said that at the Leitrim Society of New York annual dinner dance over St Patrick's Day, he spoke with members of the Leitrim diaspora who were "shocked that we have 1,508 townlands and there's 180 townlands with nobody living in them; they couldn't believe that there was such a decline in population in the rural areas. So anything we can put in to bolster growth and stop decline is what we need."