Achill community call meeting to discuss proposed Greenway

A COMMUNITY on Achill Island has called a meeting for tomorrow to discuss the proposal to bring the Achill Greenway through their community.

The next phase of the Greenway through Achill Island will see it extended for 5km from Cashel to Bunnacurry with funding already allocated from the Department of Transport.

The project will be developed by Mayo County Council in conjunction with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and in recent weeks officials have been contacting residents and property owners in Cashel regarding the process for the route selection.

In response to this, a meeting organised by the local Cashel community has been called for Sunday, October 20 in Ted's Bar in Cashel where the proposal to bring the Greenway through Cashel will be discussed and people invited to share their thoughts.

Unlike the original Greenway from Newport to Achill which was developed after landowners gave permissive access to users to pass through their lands, new TII guidelines mean that land for Greenways must be owned by the local authority and land can ultimately be acquired by compulsory purchase order.

A code of practice for the delivery of new Greenways and the acquisition of land was agreed between the TII and farmer's groups including the IFA. However, this new method of developing Greenways has caused controversy in some communities with landowners saying they will not allow access through their land.

It is expected that one option for the preferred route for the Cashel section of the Greenway will be to bring it along the shoreline and link up with a bog road. However to do this a number of property owners are expected to be affected and land acquisition will be required.

O'Toole & Co Auctioneers have been appointed by Mayo County Council as the valuer for the voluntary land acquisition agreement. These valuations will have to be approved by the TII before Mayo County Council can commence initial negotiations with the landowners.

Last December, Mayo Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon prematurely announced that the Greenway extension to Bunnacurry had gone to tender and will progress to design and construction once a contract has been awarded.

At the time, local councillor Paul McNamara said that this information was 'totally wrong' and the announcement caused 'a bit of anxiety and discomfort' among local residents.

The extension of the Greenway onto Achill Island was officially opened by Minister Jack Chambers in September 2023 and this section of the Greenway has been shortlisted for the Excellence in Local Government Awards in the Supporting Tourism category.