Newly formed Mayo community group calls on councillors to support greenway extension

A COMMUNITY group that is advocating for a greenway to Louisburgh and Roonagh has called on the local representatives not to jeopardise the completion of the Clew Bay Greenway loop.

A number of signs have recently been erected in the Louisburgh area calling on communities – including Lecanvey, Louisburgh and the islands – to support a Clew Bay Greenway.

The future plan for the Great Western Greenway is to extend it from Westport to Roonagh and onto Inishturk and Clare Island to create a loop around the whole of Clew Bay.

The latest stage of the greenway’s development involves the extension from Westport to Murrisk, the preferred route has proven contentious.

A group involving ‘concerned citizens’ from around Louisburgh was formed in August to highlight local issues, with the extension of the greenway to Louisburgh described as ‘the hottest issue’ for local people.

As a result of consultations with local communities, including the communities of Inishturk and Clare Island, the group, which comprised of over a dozen people, has started a campaign to ensure the greenway to Louisburgh is not lost.

“Our mission was to raise awareness of this very important project that was deemed essential not just to Louisburgh but to the islands in Clew Bay and the entire circuit,” group member Brendan Sammon told The Mayo News.

Mr Sammon, Eamon O’Malley, John Joe Gibbons and David Gray all spoke to The Mayo News about the importance of completing the greenway all the way to Ronagh and linking up with the islands.

They highlighted that the Louisburgh Community Futures plan, which was drawn up in 2016, identified the importance of extending the greenway and they say that community support for the project remains strong in 2024.

“The [Community Futures] plan is where we are taking reference from for taking action. The plan is a bottom-up community plan. It is not our plan, it belongs to the community, and they identified the importance of a greenway,” said Mr Sammon.

“If you look across the water at Mulranny, Achill and Newport, the traffic down there is an awful lot more than in Louisburgh. Louisburgh has so much to offer, and there is huge potential for development.

“Sometimes we associate usage of the greenway solely with tourism, but it is not the case. It is for everybody, cyclists and walkers, parents and children who can walk [there] safely… and that is as equally important in the development of a greenway as anything else.

“The demand for the greenway is there. It is a community demand and not an individual demand. It is important the islands are a part of this because we are thinking of the wider picture of the Clew Bay loop, which is essential for their development as well,” he added.

Call to action

As well as erecting signs and posters around the area, the group is also asking members of the local communities to contact their local representatives to highlight the greenway’s importance.

“The main call to action is for people to make contact with their local councillors or TDs to look for them to support a greenway. Take up the phone and send an email to lobby these guys,” Mr Sammon said.

“The communities along the route have been reached out to and they are all for it. We are asking the seven councillors in the west mayo municipal district to back this greenway and that we won’t lose out on it,” added Eamon O’Malley.

The group members say they have met with Mayo County Council engineers regarding the greenway but as of yet they do not have a route in mind for bringing it to Louisburgh.

The group hopes to have a meeting with the seven local councillors in January to urge them to support the project.

David Gray added that there is a fear in the community that if they ‘do not run with it’ the project may be lost.

“It is put up or shut up time, and if we don’t run with it now and get the funding through then it might be pulled. The TII [Transport Infrastructure Ireland] will not mess about and will move on somewhere just as quickly if the Louisburgh greenway is held up. The consequence of not having one is enormous,” he said.