Castle to celebrate 800th birthday a year late

A landmark castle will have to celebrate its 800th birthday a year late.

The Government had allocated €5.7m last year for major works at the 13th century King John’s Castle in Limerick. However, the castle, near the Shannon in the city, will have to wait another year for its big makeover amid fears that closing it during the summer would hurt the tourism industry.

A plan had been drawn up to enlarge the castle’s exhibition areas and re-establish St John’s as a major tourism landmark with money allocated by Tourism Minister Leo Varadkar.

However, no work has got under way, even with the busy summer season fast approaching.

Shannon Development had secured funding for the proposed development from Fáilte Ireland and the Department of Tourism. The minister made the announcement last year.

A spokesman for Shannon Development said: “We are well under way with the planning of the project. But King John’s Castle is such an important icon for the tourism industry in Limerick, we did not want to have it closed for the main tourism season.

“With the way the timing was going on the project we would have had to close the castle for the early part of this year.

“So what we have decided is to make the castle open for all the 2012 season and we will be shutting it around September or October to have it up and running for the 2013 season.”