Galway’s Living Bog will become showpiece for environmental and educational visits

A STRETCH of bog in North-East Galway is set to become a major showpiece in terms of environmental, tourism and educational visits, according to the leader of the local group involved in the project.

Former TD and Minister of State, Paul Connaughton, told the Connacht Tribune this week that the 3,000-acre Carrownagappul Bog in Mountbellew was now regularly attracting TV crews from all over Europe to film what was going on there.

According to the NPWS (National Parks and Wildlife Service), the bog has been described as ‘one of the most beautiful in Europe’ with the potential to become one of Ireland’s foremost bogs to visit due to its unique flora, fauna, folklore and location.

Chairman of the local Carrownagappul Bog Committee, Paul Connaughton, said that the site was just opening up for a whole series of educational tours early in 2020 when the Covid pandemic intervened.

“There is however no doubt in my mind at all that over the coming years that the Carrownagappul Bog Project will be attracting visitors not just in Ireland but from different parts of the world as well.

“The project is very special in that it involved the co-operation of local people whose families had cut turf in the bog for years but who are now committed to seeing this project develop into a local tourism and educational hub,” said Paul Connaughton.

Back in the early Summer of 2011, there was close to a confrontation between local turfcutters and the NPWS when an order was issued to cease cutting immediately on the bog.

Eventually a compromise was reached in which turf was allowed to be cut for that year before a more long-term compensation package was agreed (€1,500 pa for 15 years) while alternatively a number of cutters were offered an alternative bog site to cut turf, close by.

“Already the project is employing five people and we can this figure growing over the coming years with second and third-level colleges across the region and country involved in visits to the site.

“In total, we estimate that between the compensation scheme and improvement works carried out to the roadways through the bogs – as well as the construction of two boardwalks – that spending so far has been in the region of a half-million euros,” said Paul Connaughton.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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