The greenway from Glenbeigh to Cahersiveen remains a divise issue in south Kerry, five years on from when lands for the project were secured by compulsory purchase order (CPO).
Those CPOs issued for the greenway in 2020 were unique, as this was was the first time the state used this power for an amenity project.
For farmers who had their land CPO’d, such as Denis O’Connor, Christy and Mary McDonnell, Philomena Keating and Séamus Walsh, the greenway has consumed much more of their time than they would like. They wanted to accommodate the project in a manner which wouldn’t impede their farming, but they say there was no flexibility from Kerry County Council.
All claim this isn’t a case of nimbyism (not in my back yard), as they offered alternative parts of their land to Kerry County Council, but they say these offers fell on deaf ears.
Among their concerns is the lack of clarity about what the specific plans are for their farms. They say the answer they get from council officials and construction engineers is, that this is an on-going project and all these will be sorted as the project moves along.
Kerry County Council and its agents said they undertook a full environmental impact assessment and an appropriate assessment before submitting an application to An Bord Pleanála in 2018 which also included a compulsory purchase order.
The project received statutory planning and CPO approval from An Bord Pleanála in 2020 for 27km of the
scheme.
“I’ve been worn down at this stage. You just want it over with and finished. You become so fed up you’ll agree to anything to try and end the torture,” said Denis.
The old railway line on which the south Kerry greenway will crossover is elevated above the level of the lane that leads to McDonnell's house and farm.
“Their cure for everything is to talk about compensation. Get rid of the solicitor and we’ll sort you out then. If I had the last 15 years back, I wouldn’t let them on the place until there was a full specific plan for my farm rather than a generic scenic picture of the greenway.”
The lack of specifics on reducing the impact of the greenway to the day-to-day running of their farms is causing them difficulties.
The McDonnell’s house and yard are over 300m from the N70 road, better known as the Ring of Kerry, and the greenway will cross the lane that leads from there to the public road.
This lane lies significantly below the level of the old railway track on which the greenway is proposed to run along.
When the trains were running, Mary’s family accessed the main road via a tunnel that went underneath the rail line. Lorries were able to use it, but with the demise of the railway this was knocked and a new roadway was constructed to facilitate larger vehicles.
Despite it being over a decade since it was first mooted, they still don’t know for certain how they will access their dwelling when the greenway is completed.
Christy McDonnell with the remains of a sheep holding pen that he had on the site of the old railway line.
In the initial discussions with engineers, they requested a tunnel to allow them unimpeded access to the main road and their silage fields. They were told this was too expensive.
“We’re living on the wrong side of the greenway,” said Mary. “We don’t know how it’s going to work for day-to-day travel for us, or drawing silage to the yard when people are using the greenway.
The plans for it showed that the greenway will slope up and down either side of our lane and there will be chicane gates and cattle grids on it. That slope will be very steep.”
Initially, alternative routes, on their own land, were offered by the farmers to minimise farm severance.
“Our daughter, who is an engineer, put together a presentation showing that if the route went on the lower side of the road, there was an 8km stretch where there were two sheds but no houses, but no consideration was given to it,” Christy McDonnell said.
“It wasn’t that these were refused,” said Denis, “these offers were ignored outright, they were adamant that the greenway was going on the old railway.”
Christy and Denis had sheep pens located on the old railway.
These were swept aside with a digger with no warning, they claim.
Part, but not all, of Christy’s land along the route has been fenced.
As a result, he can’t graze the fields above it.
Christy and Mary discovered that some of the gates hung for the pens, in some cases, aren’t wide enough or have to be lifted in order to be closed.
Given the weight of the gates, Mary cannot close some of them on her own.
Cattle grazing on the old railway line. This land is subject to CPO for the proposed South Kerry greenway on the Iveragh peninsula.
The greenway from Glenbeigh to Cahersiveen remains a divise issue in south Kerry, five years on from when lands for the project were secured by compulsory purchase order (CPO).
Those CPOs issued for the greenway in 2020 were unique, as this was was the first time the state used this power for an amenity project.
For farmers who had their land CPO’d, such as Denis O’Connor, Christy and Mary McDonnell, Philomena Keating and Séamus Walsh, the greenway has consumed much more of their time than they would like. They wanted to accommodate the project in a manner which wouldn’t impede their farming, but they say there was no flexibility from Kerry County Council.
All claim this isn’t a case of nimbyism (not in my back yard), as they offered alternative parts of their land to Kerry County Council, but they say these offers fell on deaf ears.
Among their concerns is the lack of clarity about what the specific plans are for their farms. They say the answer they get from council officials and construction engineers is, that this is an on-going project and all these will be sorted as the project moves along.
Kerry County Council and its agents said they undertook a full environmental impact assessment and an appropriate assessment before submitting an application to An Bord Pleanála in 2018 which also included a compulsory purchase order.
The project received statutory planning and CPO approval from An Bord Pleanála in 2020 for 27km of the
scheme.
“I’ve been worn down at this stage. You just want it over with and finished. You become so fed up you’ll agree to anything to try and end the torture,” said Denis.
The old railway line on which the south Kerry greenway will crossover is elevated above the level of the lane that leads to McDonnell's house and farm.
“Their cure for everything is to talk about compensation. Get rid of the solicitor and we’ll sort you out then. If I had the last 15 years back, I wouldn’t let them on the place until there was a full specific plan for my farm rather than a generic scenic picture of the greenway.”
The lack of specifics on reducing the impact of the greenway to the day-to-day running of their farms is causing them difficulties.
The McDonnell’s house and yard are over 300m from the N70 road, better known as the Ring of Kerry, and the greenway will cross the lane that leads from there to the public road.
This lane lies significantly below the level of the old railway track on which the greenway is proposed to run along.
When the trains were running, Mary’s family accessed the main road via a tunnel that went underneath the rail line. Lorries were able to use it, but with the demise of the railway this was knocked and a new roadway was constructed to facilitate larger vehicles.
Despite it being over a decade since it was first mooted, they still don’t know for certain how they will access their dwelling when the greenway is completed.
Christy McDonnell with the remains of a sheep holding pen that he had on the site of the old railway line.
In the initial discussions with engineers, they requested a tunnel to allow them unimpeded access to the main road and their silage fields. They were told this was too expensive.
“We’re living on the wrong side of the greenway,” said Mary. “We don’t know how it’s going to work for day-to-day travel for us, or drawing silage to the yard when people are using the greenway.
The plans for it showed that the greenway will slope up and down either side of our lane and there will be chicane gates and cattle grids on it. That slope will be very steep.”
Initially, alternative routes, on their own land, were offered by the farmers to minimise farm severance.
“Our daughter, who is an engineer, put together a presentation showing that if the route went on the lower side of the road, there was an 8km stretch where there were two sheds but no houses, but no consideration was given to it,” Christy McDonnell said.
“It wasn’t that these were refused,” said Denis, “these offers were ignored outright, they were adamant that the greenway was going on the old railway.”
Christy and Denis had sheep pens located on the old railway.
These were swept aside with a digger with no warning, they claim.
Part, but not all, of Christy’s land along the route has been fenced.
As a result, he can’t graze the fields above it.
Christy and Mary discovered that some of the gates hung for the pens, in some cases, aren’t wide enough or have to be lifted in order to be closed.
Given the weight of the gates, Mary cannot close some of them on her own.
Cattle grazing on the old railway line. This land is subject to CPO for the proposed South Kerry greenway on the Iveragh peninsula.
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