Low key talks to address greenway impasse

Members of the farming community were up in arms as they felt that the proposed ‘coast to coast’ greenway would be forced through their lands by compulsory purchase order. Understandably, it generated huge anger.

But now Minister Denis Naughten has confirmed to The Connacht Tribune that there are discussions taking place with State agencies with a view to progressing the greenway in such a way that it would have minimal impact on the farming community.

And he gave an undertaking that there would be a consultative process with everyone along the route once there was any progress confirmed. It will be known within the next couple of months if there is any movement in this regard.

Minister Naughten was not happy with the way the proposal was handled in the past and was always an advocate of an ongoing consultative process with land owners and those affected by the greenway.

It is proposed to provide a cycling greenway from Dublin to Galway. The section from the Capital to Athlone is mainly along the banks of the Grand Canal while the section from Athlone to Ballinasloe has been largely agreed although there are discussions ongoing with a small number of land owners.

Last year when the National Roads Authority announced the preferred route from Ballinasloe to Galway, it caused consternation amongst the farming community who feared that their holdings would be split in two. What equally annoyed them was the lack of consultation in the whole process.

There were even fears that the government would have gone down the road of acquiring the lands through compulsory purchase order but given the weight of opposition to the plan, the National Roads Authority rowed back on this option.

But now it has been learned there are renewed plans to provide a greenway from Ballinasloe to Galway city but it will not dissect agricultural holdings and could instead will be through State-owned lands like bogs and forestry.

“This is what they should have done in the first place,” remarked Pat Murphy who is Chairman of County Galway IFA. “What they proposed last year was outrageous and could have put farmers out of business”.

At the time Mr Murphy added: “The route of the proposed greenway would have divided holdings in two but even apart from that, the whole consultation process was terrible. They had a route decided before there was any consultation with the land owners involved”.

Minister Naughten believed that there could be significant progress over the coming weeks and gave an undertaking that all interested parties would be kept up to date on what was happening.