Plan for Curragh 'within weeks'

A plan for the future management of the Curragh Plains will be ready 'in coming weeks', local TD and Minister of State Martin Heydon has been told, writes Brian Byrne. This follows a meeting held at Leinster House with representatives of the Department of Defence, which currently manages the area.

The Minister and other public representatives detailed the challenges faced by many residents around the Plains area due to illegal encampments, including this past summer.

Recent illegal dumping on the Curragh. Pics: Joe Mallon.

“In 2021 I worked with then Minister for Defence Simon Coveney on a project to establish a conservation management plan for the Curragh Plains in conjunction with Kildare County Council," Minister Heydon said in a subsequent statement. "I have continuously pushed for this plan to be completed and published as soon as possible, following two rounds of public consultation. The process has taken too long but yesterday we were informed that the plan will be completed in the coming weeks."

He said the plan can be the roadmap for a more proactively managed plains, very possibly under the authority of a different agency which could be the OPW, the NPWS or a new body. "The management of the plains in the future will require more resources and a specific skillset for managing a very special 5,000 acres of land at the heart of Kildare. I will continue to actively fight for those resources and a new approach for everyone who lives near it, or who uses it for sport, recreation, work or for those who see it a really important national asset that needs to be managed better.”

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