Opinion: More clarity and certainty needed on future of King's River in Callan

Kilkenny County Council has put forward new proposals for the Restoration of the long neglected Kings River in Callan.

These were discussed by the local Kings River Group at their recent meeting. It was certainly taken as good news that a plan was now in place and that there was a timeline for implementation. However, there was an understandable degree of caution and doubt.

There was also a strong feeling of ‘we've been here before’, given that the people of Callan have been campaigning for well over ten years for their river to be restored only to be met each time with an ongoing series of obstacles.

While the plan provides for the completion of the project at the end of 2028, the committee understand that the major hurdles of agreement from all the various organisations responsible for our rivers and, of course, the availability of the required funding are still not certainties and these have proved to be major problems in the past.

In that regard, the Kings River Group will be seeking to meet Kilkenny County Council to obtain the factual position on these two critical points. The committee will need to ensure that every ‘river’ agency is on board with the plan and that the agreement of the Agencies will still be in place on the date set for the completion of the restoration.

That would seem to be common sense, yet failure in this regard has stopped progress in the past.

Then, there is the matter of funding. It is our understanding that following a meeting our committee had with the council back in August 2023, the council made an application through the Town and Village Renewal Scheme for funding of €250,000.

The amount of €247,500 was granted and this remains available to date. We are not aware of any additional funding given to this project, but would be delighted to hear that there is more money there! We will need certainty that the money to complete the necessary works will be available.

Callan people are unable to understand why their river, which is the focal point in the town, remains such an eyesore. Certainly, there was a very encouraging level of commitment and determination expressed by those at the meeting with some recalling the protests and demonstrations all those years ago which were necessary to give Callan the bypass road.

Perhaps, we need to do something, such as extending the tax on derelict houses and sites to derelict rivers!

Phil Funchion is the chair of the King’s River Group