CPO powers for Mayo Greenway defended by Ministers

Minister of State Seán Canney has defended the retention of compulsory purchase order (CPO) powers for the Greenway projects, despite calls from local representatives to remove the mechanism from consideration.

The statement comes after Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) rejected a proposal by Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway Walsh to take CPOs off the table for the Belclare to Murrisk Greenway.

Speaking on his role in greenway development, Minister Canney emphasized that while he holds responsibility for overall policy and exchequer funding in relation to greenways, the planning, design and construction of National and Regional Greenways falls under the remit of TII in conjunction with local authorities.

The Minister outlined that the 2021 Code of Best Practice for greenways was designed to ensure "a transparent and pragmatic approach" to community engagement and land acquisition. He stressed that state-owned lands should be “considered to the greatest extent possible and in doing so minimise the potential impacts on privately owned land”, and that engagement with local landowners should be "sustained and frequent" when private land use becomes necessary.

"The importance of regular public consultation is embedded within the Code," Canney stated, adding that engagement between affected landowners and project teams is critical to avoid severance of farm holdings where feasible.

According to the Minister, an independent agronomist is available to assist landowners with queries and provide advice on the impact of proposals. An agronomist is a professional who studies and applies science to crop production and soil management to help farmers improve yield and profitability. 

However, addressing the contentious CPO issue directly, Canney acknowledged that the Code does reference compulsory purchase as a "measure of last resort" when voluntary land acquisition agreements cannot be reached after sustained engagement with individual landowners.

"The CPO is a legal mechanism that is contained within the Planning and Development Act 2000 (Section 213) and the Roads Act 1993 (Section 52) which outlines the statutory options available to local authorities," he explained. "I would like to reiterate that this mechanism is not the preferred or initial approach in delivering greenways."

The Minister revealed that the Code of Best Practice will undergo a full review in 2026, with key stakeholders to be engaged in the revision process.

‘Everyone wants it done, but it has to be done right”, 

“The general consensus is that everyone wants it done, but it has to be done right”, Mayo Minister of State Alan Dillon told the recent Westport Tourism Organisation AGM in response to a question from the audience about the  Belclare to Murrisk Greenway. 

The Castlebar-based TD told the meeting that the “goal posts have changed” from previous Greenways. 

“Previously, when Greenways were being established through local authorities, they were very much supported by farmers or landowners through permissive access.”

However, he said that this next phase of Greenways are multi-million euro investments and if “you're going to deliver a six or seven million euro asset, you want certainty that that will be opened all year round, so the delivery model needs to be worked through.”

Speaking specifically about the Belclare to Murrisk Greenway, he said that “we know how beneficial this is. It will be a game-changer in terms of putting Louisburgh and Clew Bay on the map.”

However, the Fine Gael TD said that you have to take landowners rights into account and work with them as “this can't be prescribed from the top down, it has to work from the bottom up also.”

He said that “there's a bit of that journey to go yet in terms of trying to get a route that will be accepted by all. I hope it is because we certainly want it and if it doesn't happen, then it'd be very unfortunate.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme