Ireland’s longest greenway has just been given a storytelling upgrade designed to slow visitors down and keep them in the towns along the way. The €650,000 Royal Canal Greenway Animation Project was officially opened on Friday, October 30, by Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke TD, capping a four-county effort by Waterways Ireland and Fáilte Ireland.
The Royal Canal Greenway runs roughly 130km, or about 80 miles, along the towpath of a canal that is more than two centuries old. It begins in the university town of Maynooth in County Kildare and travels through Enfield in County Meath and Mullingar in County Westmeath before finishing at the village of Cloondara in County Longford. The route launched in March 2021 and has since become one of the country’s best-known flat, family-friendly cycling and walking trails, picking up first place in the Excellence Award category at the European Greenways Awards.
What it had not yet done, according to the agencies behind the new project, was explain itself. The animation project is an attempt to fix that, turning a long ribbon of path and water into something closer to an open-air museum.
What has been added
The centerpiece is a network of 26 discovery points spread across the four counties, each one unpacking a piece of the canal’s history, folklore, or natural surroundings. Those are joined by upgraded wayfinding along the route, new trailhead signage at five locations, a digital visitor experience, and a series of commissioned landmark installations.
Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Peter Burke TD with Leo and Ted at Royal Canal Greenway in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath following the official opening of the Royal Canal Greenway Animation Project.
Taken together, the features are intended to make the greenway feel less like a commute from one end to the other and more like a series of destinations. The thinking is straightforward enough. A cyclist who stops to read about a lock keeper, a famine-era work gang, or a bridge built in the 1790s is a cyclist who is far more likely to also stop for lunch.
The funding came through Fáilte Ireland’s Regenerative Tourism and Placemaking Scheme, which is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union through the EU Just Transition Fund. Waterways Ireland was awarded €487,500 under the agency’s Investment Grant-Aid Scheme for Strategic Partners and contributed roughly €162,500 of its own money to bring the total to €650,000.
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A region in transition
The geography here matters. The four counties sit in the heart of Ireland’s midlands, the region most directly affected by the end of commercial peat harvesting, and the Just Transition Fund exists specifically to help those communities build new sources of income. Tourism is one of the bets being placed.
Announcing the opening, Minister Burke described the greenway as “a fantastic tourism amenity” and said the investment would encourage more people to explore Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands, according to a press release issued by Fáilte Ireland. He argued that the project shows how targeted spending can unlock tourism potential in the Midlands while supporting local enterprise.
Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Peter Burke TD; Barry Kehoe, Chief Executive, Westmeath County Council; John McDonagh, CEO, Waterways Ireland; Sharon Lavin, Head of Marketing and Communications, Waterways Ireland; Cllr Bill Collentine, Cathaoirleach of Westmeath County Council; Grainne Cornally, Head of Just Transition, Fáilte Ireland;
Orla Carroll, Director of Tourism Competitiveness and Sustainability at Fáilte Ireland, said in the same release that the new interpretation and digital storytelling encourage visitors “to slow down and discover more of the destinations along its route,” with the economic benefit flowing to businesses in all four counties.
John McDonagh, Chief Executive of Waterways Ireland, said the greenway already welcomes thousands of walkers and cyclists each year and that the installations make it easier to find the stories behind the landscape. He also noted in the release that the upgrades serve the local communities who use the towpath daily, not only visitors arriving from elsewhere.
Clare Bannon, Director of the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly, which acts as the managing authority for the Just Transition Fund in Ireland, pointed out that the canal was once a working trade artery linking towns across the east and midlands. That heritage, she said in the release, has now been reimagined for a new purpose.
Planning a visit
A map of the Royal Canal Greenway.
For visitors coming from the United States, the eastern trailhead is unusually convenient. Maynooth sits about 15 miles west of Dublin and is reachable by commuter train from the city center, which makes a half-day on the canal a realistic add-on to a Dublin stay without renting a car.
Bike rental, cafés, parking and restrooms are clustered around the main trailhead towns of Maynooth, Enfield, Mullingar, Longford and Cloondara, and Waterways Ireland recommends tackling the route in shorter sections rather than end to end. Attractions within easy reach of the path include Carton House in Maynooth and the Corlea Trackway Visitor Center in Longford, home to a preserved Iron Age bog road.
The animation project is one of several now being delivered under the Regenerative Tourism and Placemaking Scheme across Ireland’s Ancient East and Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands.
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