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Section Of Thurles River Walk Temporarily Closed.

A section of the Thurles River Walk remains temporarily closed; railed off for further construction works.

The walkway from the ‘Swinging Gate’, at the junction of Emmett Street and Thomond Road to the ‘Kavanagh Place’ entrance still remains open to those who use this pedestrian route to visit the Thurles Shopping Centre.

For how long the closed section of public footpath area will remain inaccessible; we do not know.

Thurles River Walk & Other Smelly Problems

The words “River Walk” should flash upon our inward eye, visions of tranquillity, a certain colourful exoticism or romantic allure. Alas, not so when we describe the Thurles River Walk, running southwest beside the River Suir in the heart of Thurles.

The stench from drains, each deliberately designed to flow into the river, from various nearby developments, ensured that walkers, today, kept to the well-trodden Slievenamon Road route.

If local residents, council officials or even politicians, wish to view this offensive run-off into the river, with the help of your nose you can find same, some 50 yards south of the new Thurles footbridge on the west side of the river bank walkway.

**See picture above of what appears to be the overflow to a flooded sump, latter designed to collect undesirable liquids.**

Even the delusional Jackie Cahill TD, last week; who soon will be responsible for bringing the World Cup to Semple Stadium, Thurles, thankfully, possibly because of the existing stench, kept his weekly concocted, fictitious and mendacious promotional video very short, when announcing €120,000 (amount €30,000 less than his annual salary & expenses) for an extension to this same walkway.

(Ah, yes you do possibly remember the above other J.C.; the guy who sent me the famous misspelt quote in relation to the “Double Ditch”: “Iv done more in 5 years than you have in youre life GEORGIE WILLOBY”. Stop emailing”. On €100,000 plus expenses J.C., we hope you have, but we greatly doubt it.).

Meanwhile, on the east side of Thurles town, the now derelict Munster hotel, situated close to a Medical Pharmacy; two Food Takeaways and two Dine-in Restaurants and opposite a most beautiful Cathedral; has allowed its underground cellar to flood to a depth of at least one metre. Owned by a member of Thurles Chamber of Commerce, we understand; the flood water now attracts water rats from the river to operate behind terraced houses in the area, while also collecting an abundance of litter. Here also we can expect to find a different, yet another unpleasant fragrance.

It would appear no one is in charge in the Thurles Municipal District presently. Maybe we need to have a public demonstration and a change in political direction, when we get this accursed Covid-19 under control.

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.

**Unserviceable river walkway from Emmet Street to rear of Thurles Shopping Centre.**
*Pic: G. Willoughby.*

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.

**Unserviceable river walkway at rear of Thurles Shopping Centre and Lidl due to severe flooding.**
*Pic: G. Willoughby.*

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.

**Trees permitted to grow in the riverbed catch floating cans, bottles and other debris, making the area unsightly.**
*Pic: G. Willoughby.*

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.

Take A Walk By River Suir Thurles Today.

On Monday evening last, at 14:21 hours, I was contacted (PM on Facebook) by Mr Jim Ryan, (Elected Local Councillor). He informed me that his associates had held a meeting ‘with a few experts‘, with regards to the state of the river Suir at Barry’s bridge in the town centre.

There was I thinking that I was going to be reprimanded, by my betters, for contacting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which I certainly did, in an attempt to get some action in my efforts to save the decline of the River Suir and to lower, at least somewhat, the filthy stench currently being emitted from its murky waters.

No, thank God, the EPA hadn’t informed Mr Ryan directly, about my daring activities. Instead he was anxious to obtain images of sewage flowing into the river, which he had been fighting to correct for over the past 11 years; with his colleagues failing to support him and he without a camera of his own and no sense of smell.

In the course of our brief communication, I must apologise to Mr Ryan for misleading him. I had stated that I thought that the emissions from the area at the Emmett street “swinging gates” side of the river walk had been fixed. However, I also had stated that because of nettles retained by our local ‘nettle hugging’ biodiversity individuals, same could not be fully confirmed.

I am now happy to confirm, using the Thurles.Info satellite; that fixing this problem, requested on June 30th, 2022 (view Here); on October 14th, 2022 (view Here); on June 28th, 2023 (view Here); and again on October 26th 2023 (view Here), was simply too much of a challenge for our elected double jobbers; what with the war in Ukraine; the war in Gaza, not to mention Covid.19 and the onset of space tourism.

I now feel embarrassed, as I report that the emissions reported two years are still happily flowing, leaching into the water; only in larger amounts than was reported previously back in 2022.
Again the nettles forbid me from seeing the actual pipe and my only pair of wellington boots have sprung a leak.

**Archival picture of sewage entering the river Suir taken in 2022.**
*Pic: G.Willoughby*.

**Same sewage photographed two years later on Saturday last. September 21st 2024.**
*Pic: G.Willoughby*.

Meanwhile, the person who sent men into the river, without supervision, on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, should consider their position and resign.

We had expected this workforce to return to complete their cleaning work on Thursday, and Friday last, but alas, no show; hope they didn’t pick up anything, forcing them to take sick leave.
The reeds were cut, using strimmers, and left to float on the water’s surface, blocking the two fish runs, and forcing the main water stream to flow directly over the low weir. Branches were removed from under the bridges arches and left partially in the water and on the river bank.
As our video shows, despite no rain over the past 7 days, water is still flowing from a drain under Thurles Swimming Pool, directly into the river, as is a stream of water from pipes under Barry’s Bridge, which we reported last January, (view Here).

Anyone Missing A Sock?
No effort has been made to collect the numerous years of litter, piled and hidden in the receding undergrowth, found in the river itself and on its banks, in the form of plastic bags, tins, bottles, clothing, etc.
One thing I did discover; while Red Bull liquid may give you ‘Wiings’, their empty containers remain fully grounded, when caught floating in existing Blanket Weed (filamentous algae).

Yes, the public are totally responsible for this littering, but what are we getting in return for vehicle parking charges and for local property tax, the latter which has increased in Thurles every year, since it was introduced in 2013 except during local election years.

Members of Thurles Tidy Towns, Thurles Gun Club and myself had worked for absolutely no recompense to make this same area visually beautifully, which Thurles Municipal District Councillors and their officials have now turned it into a cesspit, having removing all its assets.

It may now be necessary to put together a working volunteer group to save this wonderful asset, for according to Mr Ryan (Cllr.), despite being set up in 2016, the outfit known as the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO), have no immediate action plan in place and will require 4 months to make such plans, before urgent funding can even be applied for.

River Suir Pedestrian Walkway Closed.

As we posted on October 10th last; the decision to close the River Suir walkway to all pedestrians; [starting from the “Swinging Gates” at the junction of Thomond Road and Emmet Street, through to the junction of Slievenamon Road and Clongour Road.], forecast to commence on October 5th according to the Tipperary Co. Council website had failed to materialise.

Work eventually began yesterday, seven days late (October 12th) starting at the Thomond Road and Emmet Street junction. Currently the work being undertaken appears to be the installation of ducting to carry wiring for proposed future public lighting.

No drawings or details have been provided by council officials for this upgrade work, with those responsible claiming that such resurfacing of this existing pedestrian way and other works, does not require design drawings. They claim a Habitats Directive Assessment Screening Report has been carried out for this proposed work, with a local fisheries representative having been consulted.

Most people believe that this threatened upgrade is really to provide a cycling path, instead of the existing footpath, along the river bank, at the expense of leisurely pedestrian traffic and much badly needed seating areas.