Lough Key Forest Park should regain much of its former glory as a leading tourist attraction if a planning application to be submitted to Roscommon County Council next week comes to fruition.
The plan to redevelop the park is being submitted by Coillte after consultation with the local community in Boyle. It brings to an end years of argument over the best way to develop the park and widespread criticism of Coillte's management of it over the past decade.
Its demise has been a source of considerable anger among locals. Up until the late 1980s, it was one of the top 10 tourist attractions in the State, and brought thousands of people into the Boyle area. Each year hoards of schoolchildren were bussed in for day trips, boy scouts learned the basics of camping and families filled the caravan and camping park.
Local businessman Mr Frank Feighan laughs as he remembers the brisk trade in Lough Key Forest Park ornaments in the family shop, particularly the popular water-filled glass bubble which showered snow over a picture of the park. When the buses stopped coming, hundreds of the unwanted ornaments were left in the store.
The park's demise is explained by the fact that it, just like the picture in the glass bubble, never changed with the times. It was a 1970s facility and suited the expectations of people in the 1970s. People then didn't ask for visitor centres, bars, restaurants, high-standard accommodation and a range of sporting and leisure facilities.
The new proposals will develop the park in an environmentally sensitive way - and some upgrading is badly needed. Despite the recent construction of a new playground, and some clearing of overgrown areas along the main driveways, the park has a distinctly neglected look.
A report drawn up by the local community two years ago noted that a charge for day-trippers was unjustifiable given that no real facilities were provided, and that visitors were getting lost on woodland walks because of a lack of maps and signposts.
And yet it is obvious that the park has enormous potential. The sight this week of two young deer slinking away through a woodland of brilliant autumn colours would convince anybody that this is an oasis for those with an interest in nature. There are also some historical sites dating from its days as Rockingham Estate and earlier.
With the N4 running past it and cruisers diverting into Lough Key from the Shannon, there are also plenty of people passing nearby who could avail of such a facility.
Two years after members of the Lough Key Forest Park Action Group marched on Coillte headquarters in Dublin, demanding that something urgent be done or management of the park be handed over to another State agency, Mr Bill Murphy, the leisure manager with Coillte, now praises the action group and Roscommon County Council for their support.
He says the plans, drawn up by architect Duncan Stewart, allow for the "integrated development" of the park, and that the project will cost some £5 million. The caravan and camping park will be upgraded, 20 chalets will be built, providing accommodation for about 100 people, and a hostel catering for both families and independent travellers will be developed at existing stable buildings. The chalets will be designed to fit in with the natural surroundings.
The stone stables, with a cobbled yard in the centre, will house leisure facilities, shower and changing rooms, and a regional Coillte office. The existing cafe building will be developed into a visitor centre, with a restaurant and bar. It will also house an information centre on forestry and the environment.
The development includes tennis courts, walking trails, an orienteering course, mountain bike trails and barbecue sites. For the moment however, the unfortunate eyesore of the Moylurg Tower, which could match any monument constructed under communist regimes for ugliness, is to remain, as demolition would prove too expensive. A group of local artists have, however, set their minds on transforming it.
The development plans for the park were presented at a public meeting in Boyle on Monday night. Mr Feighan, who is chairman of the Lough Key Forest Park Action Group and was this year elected to Roscommon County Council, says the plans have met with widespread approval because they are in line with suggestions put forward by the local community.
He formed the action group by bringing together people who were in disagreement in the past over how the park should be developed, and this consensus should mean that the plans will not meet with any local opposition.
One of the most divisive issues in the past centred on the building of a hotel, with many people arguing that a private facility in the park would limit public access. Mr Feighan says that the current proposals, while not including a hotel, allow for the future development of one, if an established operator can be found to develop it. Up until now, it has been impossible to find an interested hotelier.
The project should be under way quite soon if the planning application goes through without any hitches and the necessary funding can be secured.
Coillte says it needs funding from Bord Failte to go ahead with the project. "This will be an important investment for the whole region, and if we don't get the necessary support, it is something a commercial company like Coillte couldn't do," Mr Murphy says. He added that he was optimistic that Bord Failte would support the project.
If all goes to plan, work will start early in 2000 and the upgrading of the caravan park will be finished by Easter. The other facilities will be completed by the end of the year. "The decline of the park brought a lot of negativity. I have no doubt this will bring greater confidence and opportunity to the Boyle area," says Frank Feighan.