Bord na Móna (BNM) UK's parent company has opened a new €1.5m visitor facility in the 3,000 hectare Lough Boora Parklands, Co Offaly.
Lough Boora is a cutaway peat bog which the company has restored into a network of off-road walking and cycle routes within a bio-diverse habitat, which includes the last remaining population of grey partridge in Ireland.

Opened last week by Ireland's Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Alex White, the new centre uses environmentally-friendly materials in its construction, featuring a green roof, solar energy and an ecological waste water treatment system.

The new facility is designed to improve the visitor experience to the former peat extraction area, which BNM created 10 years ago as a tangible statement of its commitment never to open another peat bog.

Said head of consumer for BNM in the UK Steve Harper: "This latest investment is part of Bord na Móna's Contract with Nature - a blueprint for minimising negative impact while delivering a sustainable, low carbon future.

"While Bord na Móna's heritage is in peat production, it now invests in eco-technology with biomass, wind farms and water and waste recycling. By blending the remaining peat that Bord na Móna has farmed in the past with the results of our cutting-edge green waste composting technology we are utilising resources in the most sustainable way - something that Lough Boora represents beautifully."