Green light for Shannon Pot Discovery Centre

Planning permission has been granted for the Shannon Pot Discovery Centre in a multi-million euro project that will form an extension to the already hugely popular Burren Park in west Cavan.

Councillors in the Cavan-Belturbet Municipal District area met yesterday (Tuesday) to consider Part 8 planning permission for the development.

It clears the way for Cavan County Council to undertake works at two locations as part of a major €6.4 million investment.

It follows a successful public consultation on the plan held last year in Glangevlin, Blacklion and Swanlinbar.

First announced in 2021, €4.8 million has been provided for the project by Fáilte Ireland, with the remaining €1.6 million put up by Cavan County Council.

The plan is to have a visitor centre at Derrylahan and a proposed high-level timber walkway built and opened to the public by 2025.

The part 8 planning proposals went before councillors on Tuesday afternoon for rubber stamping. They included the development of a new entrance road from the R206, an upgrade of the existing carpark, and a new single storey Shannon Pot Discovery Centre together with high level timber walkways, low level timber boardwalks and gravel pathways.

New interpretation installations, signage and auxiliary landscape works will also be carried out.

A new barrier, alterations to existing car park and existing visitor facilities, new walkways, and new amphitheatre are also set to be provided at Cavan Burren Park, Blacklion.

The council meanwhile is continuing to engage with national forestry agency, Coillte, regarding its interests in protecting the site in future.

Coillte had been accused of “poor management” of what many consider to be one of Ireland’s finest prehistoric relict landscapes.

Tree felling and replanting in the sightline of scenic areas, specifically with Sitka Spruce, a non-native tree, have hindered the vistas overlooking nearby Tullygobbin Hill and Tullygobbin Lake.