LABOUR Party councillor Joe Leddin believes that a running and walking track from the city’s docklands to Coonagh and out to the University of Limerick at Plassey would be a huge tourist attraction for the city.
Cllr Leddin, a keen runner himself, takes the view that a 42-kilometre track along the picturesque riverbank running through Limerick City would be a bold and ambitious move from a tourism point of view.
“Lighting up the river has made such an impact, even for people coming into the city, to see the bridges lit up and connected by the lights. It is a simple thing but it is a powerful thing,” the City West representative told the Limerick Post.
“Putting flags on the bridges for a festival or an event or matches, that really gives people a sense of pride of place in their city. I know they are small things, but they are powerful things and we need to do more of that as a city.
“How many people, two or three years ago, would have laughed at you if you said you were after doing the Three Bridges Walk? Now they are doing it not on a weekly basis, but a daily basis.”
Giving Limerick City and County Council credit for the impressive work it has done along the riverbank, Cllr Leddin feels there is a lot more that still can be done.
“We have fantastic riverbanks out to UL and Coonagh and all the land down behind Limerick Docklands. We could, in the morning, without a shadow of a doubt, develop a route that would allow you run a marathon, or walk it if you want, that’s 42 kilometres without ever leaving the river.
“What a tourist attraction that would be, if we developed those walks on the banks of the Shannon, behind the docklands where there’s a 100+ acres fronting onto the estuary.
“At the other side we have the Condell bank, and that’s before you even come in around by the three bridges.
“We could develop a 42km run and you would never ever leave the river. That’s something that a bold, ambitious council could look at from a tourism point of view,” he concluded.
