'No guarantee Galway section of Greenway will go through all public land'

In reply to a parliamentary question from Deputy Denis Naughten, Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe said he "cannot give a guarantee" that the recently paused section of the Galway to Dublin off-road cycle route, known as the Galway-to-Dublin Greenway, can all go through public land.

The minister was referring to the Roscommon and Galway sections of the cycle route, which have recently been put on hold following objections from local farmers.

Resistance to the Greenway was especially strong in Co Galway, where it would have cut through mainly private farmland, peatlands and forestry. Consultations in 2015 with around 20% of the 194 landowners along the route corridor between Galway city and Ballinasloe found that some 63% would object to it, while 27% would accommodate it.

There was less opposition to the route in Co Roscommon where about 40% of the route would be on publicly-owned lands.

Deputy Naughten asked the minister if he is still committed to a Greenway in that part of the country and, if he was, if he would give an assurance that the section from Ballinasloe to Galway city, the area of most resistance, would be routed on public lands.

Naughten suggested Bord na Móna's land bank as a possible option, given that it will be pulling out of milled peat production over the next 15 years. He also suggested using land owned by Coillte, Ireland's leading forestry company.

But the minister said that he could not give a guarantee that this section of the route could all go through public land, adding that the most likely possibility would be a "mix between public and private land, while delivering a route we know tourists and cyclists will want to use." Moreover, he told Naughten that the success of a separate Greenway between Achill and Westport, the Great Western Greenway, is due to the cooperation of private land-owners who allow cyclists and tourists to see local communities and villages up close, thereby hinting that the success of the Galway-to-Dublin Greenway relies on similar access to private lands.

While the Department of Transport and Transport Infrastructure Ireland works on the possibility of developing a new route through Roscommon and Galway that will have the support of landowners, the Department will focus on the Kildare/Westmeath section of the route instead. This section, which goes from Maynooth to Mullingar, is due for completion in the summer of 2017.

The Galway-to-Dublin Cycleway is the pilot project in the National Cycle Network and will be Ireland’s first dedicated inter-city coast-to-coast route for cyclists.

Read more: Farmers welcome lifting of cycleway threat