A very successful meeting was held in the Angling Centre, Athleague, last Thursday night, where it was agreed to establish the Suck Valley Angling Hub.

  The angling hub will be a sub-committee of the Suck Valley Development Co-operative. Members of the Suck Valley Development Co-operative were present.

  There was a great turnout of people from angling clubs, accommodation providers, heritage, kayaking, pony-trekking and other businesses at the meeting and a great sense of energy and enthusiasm.

  Seamus Naughton, of Suck Valley Way Co-operative, chaired the meeting. Cllr. Orla Leyden, of Fianna Fáil, addressed the meeting and explained the idea behind the establishment of the Suck Valley Angling Hub.

  She said that there was a great opportunity to develop a plan for the Suck Valley Area now in terms of Angling tourism linking with walking, cycling,
kayaking, pony-trekking and heritage tourism.

  Initial meetings with representatives from the Suck Valley Development Cooperative and Athleague Angling Club, Inland Fisheries Ireland, Angling Council of Ireland Roscommon Leader, were successful, she said.

  Tommy Ryan, the chief executive of Roscommon County Council, had also expressed his support for the Suck Valley Angling Hub ahead of the meeting.

  Cllr. Leyden emphasised that with a Leader fund of €8.9 million over the next five years soon to be soon open for applications and a potential national angling fund of circa €25 million over the next five years, there had never been a better time to get plans in place to drive the Suck Valley Angling Hub.