Lough Gara is a lovely and interesting lake, or rather a combination of three lakes, on the Sligo-Roscommon border. Great efforts are being made to improve the lakeside and general facilities in order to attract more tourists for the excellent coarse fishing there. The Lough Gara Development Association have produced their own promotional brochure, a very good effort by a small community. However, they have one difficulty. The low level of the lake water in summertime, especially in good weather such as we have had in recent times, is bad for fishing as the fish get trapped in shallow waters and are unable to survive. It is bad also for boating facilities. Overall it can cause a maze of problems, even for lakeside farmers in controlling their cattle.
The Lough Gara Development Association and the farmers believe that there is a simple solution — the building of sluice gates at Cuppanagh Bridge to control the flow of water from the lake into the Boyle river and onto the Shannon. I will not go into the technical details but I understand that because of a number of factors, some natural and some manmade, this would not be an expensive project and there would be no necessity for day to day control. The effect of the sluice gates would add greatly to the tourist potential of Lough Gara. The project could possibly qualify for EC tourist related grant aid, perhaps from the Leader Programme. I hope that the Minister will have good news on this matter tonight.
