Farmers left in dark with Galway Greenway

Martin Gibbons, chairperson for Oughterard/Killannin IFA, said a new committee, Galway Cycling Solutions, has been set up between local farmers and homeowners along parts of the affected route. The group also includes members from other cycling organisations who wish to solve the issues surrounding the cycle path.

“We spoke with the county council in late May and gave them a series of solutions but they haven’t come back to us since then. Nothing has happened but we will be following them up to see the story soon,” he said.

Mr Gibbons is hopeful that these solutions will work, saying “I am for the greenway, Oughterard is a tourism town and the cycle path is a vital solution to encouraging tourism.”

When contacted by the Irish Farmers Journal, however, a spokesman for Galway County Council said “nothing has happened at present but we are expecting direction from the Department of Transport about it in the future.”

Other farmers in Loughrea and Craughwell have not heard anything about the greenway since last October when former Paschal Donohoe, Minister for Transport withdrew funding for this section of the road.

The section of the Greenway west of the Shannon to the Galway coast would cut through 1,400 farms and really disrupt farming operations. When it was released to the public in June 2014, farmers really objected to it.

“Just in my own case, as a farmer I have seen there’s a huge problem with severance of the land. Where the cycle path was running, it went along an old railway built over one hundred years. In 1935 they sold it back to the people so it’s private land now. This is where they wanted to build the greenway,” Gibbons explained.

Mr Gibbons, like many others has his farmyard and sheds built around this old track and would see his land split in half by the greenway if the original plan had gone ahead.

Brian Tarpey, a dairy farmer in Oranmore said that the cycle path would consist of "a tarmac road and timber fence. We would be responsible for the maintenance of the timber fence. Let's say if one of my animals went on to the greenway and knocked a stake, I'd be responsible for it."

Moving the path along boundaries, which would not split the land in two and using more public land, like Coillte’s or bogland, are among some of the solutions that the Galway Cycling solutions have put forward to Galway County Council.

The land used from the Dublin to Athlone section of the greenway is mostly along public lands, using the land beside the Grand Canal and the old railway track from Mullingar to Athlone. These types of infrastructure are not available west of the River Shannon, however.

Mr Gibbons noted that it did not matter if this route took two years to perfect. “Let’s get it right and take a bit more time. If it’s good for the local community it’s going to be good enough for the tourists and everyone else,” he said.

The Department of Transport Tourism and Sport has been asked for a comment but it has not yet provided one.

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