Fota Wildlife Park welcomes An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, TD

Fota Wildlife Park, which opened in 1983, is marking its 40^th anniversary with the construction of a new Education, Conservation and Research Centre, was honoured to welcome the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, TD today to a tour of the site which is due to open to schools, colleges, and the public in late November.

The new Education, Conservation and Research Centre is co-funded by the Government, via the Office of Public Works (OPW). The OPW has co-funded essential capital infrastructural projects at Fota since 2021, including the new Spider Monkey house, the Howler Monkey habitat, and the flood defence repair to the south sea wall.

Sustainability is at the heart of the new building; eco-friendly and recycled materials have been used where possible. The new building will be able to produce as much energy as it needs and will feature a garden with native plants, external and internal living walls, and built-in habitats, such as nesting boxes for bats and birds to promote learning at every opportunity.

Fota Wildlife Park encourages its visitors to use the most sustainable travel where possible. Fota Wildlife Park has a dedicated train station based at one of its entrances and is serviced by the Cork Cobh train which operates every 30 minutes mid-week.

Fota Wildlife Park welcomes the upcoming investment in the local Cork train network of Blarney to Cobh and Midleton lines.