FINE Gael councillor Tom Ruddle has called on Limerick Council to roll up its sleeves and do a spruce job of The Square in Newcastle West for the summer.
According to Cllr Ruddle, seating and tables in the market town square are in need of a lick of paint and a bit of elbow grease.
With an impressive medieval backdrop, overlooked by Castle Desmond, a popular tourist attraction in West Limerick, he now wants to see a long overdue upgrade and further investment in the heart of Newcastle West.
Cllr Ruddle told the Limerick Post when we visited him in the bustling county town that he would like to see a weekly upgrade of The Square with a proper maintenance programme put in place.
This, he suggests, would make it more conducive for holding concerts and festival events throughout the summer months.
“There is a longer-term plan for public realm here, which I suppose will require a lot of investment, but things like cleaning and maintenance, to show the best the town has to offer, could be done straight away. I’d like to see the benches and tables cleaned and painted, and we could do with additional seating as well,” Cllr Ruddle explained.
“In fairness to the Council, they have done a job here removing weeds and grass growing out of the cobble, but we could use a smoother surface to make it that bit safer.
“We have the most fantastic castle, which is very popular with tourist busses stopping to visit the site. Last year, they came up with a figure, something like nearly 30,000 people have come into The Square because of the castle there.”
Parking for tourist busses stopping to visit Castle Desmond, he reveals, is another issue the Council are currently working on, with sites currently being considered. The people of Newcastle West, he insists, are extremely welcoming and friendly, and he now wants to capitalise on the best the town has to offer.
From The Square, Cllr Ruddle takes us to visit Demesne, the jewel in Newcastle West’s crown — a mature parkland of over 100 acres, a two minute-walk from the town centre.
Equipped with facilities such as a playground, dog park, skatepark, tennis courts and football pitches, he now wants to see a full-time park ranger employed at this stunning beauty spot to keep it “spick-and-span”. The local representative also wants new seating in the Demesne, or at the very least, broken seating to be repaired.
The park, when we arrive, is heaving with life and one dog walker tells us that people travel from as far Listowel just to use this new facility, which Cllr Ruddle helped fund through his General Municipal Allocation (GMA).
Responding to the Fine Gael man’s requests for maintenance work in the town, the Council said it would carry out a survey to determine what works are required in terms of The Square. They also said that the provision of seating in the Demesne will be discussed with its Parks Department.
– Local Democracy Reporting Scheme