A local councillor is calling for campervan parking bays to be erected in Thurles.
Councillor Jim Ryan brought the topic to this month’s meeting of the Municipal District.
It comes following the success of the Liberty Music Festival, where close to 400 campervans descended on Thurles for the weekend.
Cllr. Ryan has received representations from the Campervan Association that there is a need for more parking bays in the town.
The Independent councillor believes it will boost tourism in Thurles and the wider area.
“When these campervan enthusiasts come to a town, they stay for a few days; they spend locally; they want to see what the town has to offer, and Thurles has so much to offer tourism-wise. Unfortunately, we always seem to be neglected and overlooked by the national tourism body. This would be, in my opinion, an ideal opportunity for the town to sell itself, not only to campervans from Tipperary but all over the country. I think it’s a no-brainer to provide these facilities. These people want to travel. We have over 80,000 campervans registered in Ireland at the moment, so there’s a huge market out there with huge potential. I think Thurles is falling behind at the moment without these parking bays.”
Thurles could benefit from the tourism the campervans bring and the Liberty Music Festival was evidence of the need for these parking bays, according to Cllr. Ryan.
“Liberty Music Festival proved that there is an appetite for campervans to come to Thurles. We had nearly 400 of them down for the weekend, and they spent a huge amount of money locally, so it’s good for the economy of Thurles and surrounding areas that we bring these campervans in to Thurles on a regular basis. We’re trying to pinpoint the appropriate locations within Thurles town for these campervan bays. Obviously, we don’t want to take away any existing town center parking spaces. We’re in the process of trying to locate appropriate parking spaces within Thurles, close to the town centre, and something that would be attractive for campervans to come into Thurles on a regular basis.”
