Proper River Suir Maintenance Required As New Thurles Loop Walk Funding Announced.

Calls Grow For Proper River Suir Maintenance As New Thurles Looped Walk Funding Announced.

The announcement of €447,300 in funding to advance the long-planned 5km looped walk in Thurles has been met with cautious local optimism, tempered by renewed frustration over the ongoing flooding of existing walkways, attributed to years of inadequate maintenance of the River Suir.

The funding, secured through Thurles Lions Club as part of a wider €16.5 million national outdoor recreation investment, will facilitate the extension of the walking route from Thurles town centre along the N62 to the Lady’s Well stile entrance, before continuing via the Lady’s Well path and linking onto Mill Road. Local residents along Mill Road have already agreed to land access, enabling Tipperary County Council to progress plans for this new 1.8-metre concrete footpath, including boundary works, signage, landscaping and native hedging.

The development has been broadly welcomed as a long-overdue safety upgrade on a corridor where pedestrian access has long been compromised by traffic and poor parking provision. Community groups note that, once completed, the upgraded route will deliver a safe, attractive town-to-country walking loop, encouraging recreation and improving local amenity.

However, the news arrives against a backdrop of persistent flooding on existing riverbank walkways in Thurles, flooding that residents argue is entirely avoidable.

Community members say the situation amounts to “putting the cart before the horse”, with recreational works prioritised ahead of essential river management. They warn that unless long-overdue maintenance of the River Suir is carried out, future flooding will continue to undermine the value of new infrastructure and pose an ongoing hazard to walkers.

Despite repeated warnings over a 13 year period, the River Suir, passing through Thurles has not received the maintenance required to prevent blockages and overflow. Earlier interventions focused instead on laying new tarmacadam surfaces along the riverbank just to use up funding intended for another failed project, rather than addressing the condition of the river channel itself. Those walkways now remain submerged following recent rainfall, highlighting what locals describe as a pattern of neglect and misplaced priorities, by both Tipperary County Council and Thurles Municipal District.

Residents question whether such future works, if and when eventually carried out, can proceed without damaging the same recently-laid footpaths that hug the river’s edge.

As the looped walk extension moves into detailed design and construction phases, local observers argue that investment in recreational infrastructure cannot continue to run ahead of essential river maintenance. Without addressing long-standing Suir management issues, they contend, further flooding is inevitable, undermining both public safety and the value of this significant new funding.

For now, while the community welcomes progress on the long-awaited 5km loop, many stress that meaningful improvement in local amenity depends on tackling the river itself, not just the paths that run alongside it.