SCHOOL tours for national schoolchildren now form part of ‘the curriculum’ for Galway’s Living Bog at Carrownagappul, Mountbellew.

The new educational pilot scheme – involving the Bog Committee and the National Parks and Wildlife Service [NPWS} – is now in place.

One of the fundamental aims of the committee has been to give national school children the wonderful experience of viewing the short video presentation on the bog at the Interpretive centre at Galway Telework, Co-Op in Mountbellew.

The second part of the experience will then involve a guided walk of Carrownagappul Bog, conducted by a specially trained guide.

In this tour, schoolchildren can get a wonderful insight of the recent history of the bog; its early history; and hopefully the future of the site.

The plan is for the bog to grow back to the height that it was 100-years ago and already the NPWS has made great progress to achieve that target.

The rehabilitation of Galway’s Living Bog at Carrownagappul, Mountbellew has been making good progress since turf cutting ceased in 2011.

Most of the infrastructure has now been put in place. All 12km of roadway has been completed and this wonderful gift of nature is now attracting many hundreds of walkers each year.

The boardwalks, the mini seats strategically placed around the bog, and the new signage makes the walking of the bog a great experience.

Former TD, and local turfcutter Paul Connaughton, spearheaded the torturous takeover of the bog in 2011 and visualised the transition of the 1,000 acre site into a leisure park.

“I always believed the actions of the turfcutters to accept a negotiated settlement was the correct way to go.

“The people who wished to continue cutting turf in another less sensitive local bog had that option open to them, while all others would take the compensation,” said the former Minister of State.

He added that all of the promises made by the National Parks and Wildlife Service were honoured over the years.

“When the bog activity reached a certain level it was decided to merge the Galway Telework Co-Op office in Mountbellew and its manager Maura Hannon became manager of the bog project as well,” said Paul Connaughton.

In the new tours package for national schools, the children will be transported free of charge to their destinations – compliments of the Bog Committee – and a special package has been provided to the pupils.

Manager Maura Hannon said there was great interest for the scheme from primary schools and so far the Bog has welcomed one school every day for the past month with several more school to be accommodated into the future. “We believe that this is a real game changer,” Maura said.

Pictured: Children from Menlough National School on a recent visit to Carrownagappul Bog near Mountbellew.