Mayo councillors feel 'kept in the dark' over controversial Murrisk Greenway route

The controversial Murrisk Greenway is proposed to go to Part 8 planning in September, Mayo County Council confirmed at the Westport-Belmullet Municipal District meeting yesterday (Monday) morning Monday.

The preferred route will also be presented to the councillors at the September meeting. Part 8 allows for the application of planning permission for projects by local authorities and the seven councillors in the Westport-Belmullet Municipal District will all have a vote on the proposed new route.

However, an animated Cllr Brendan Mulroy complained the councillors are ‘being kept in the dark’ and that the decision has “obviously been made on the preferred route but nobody knows until they come back to us in September.”

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“It is beginning to smell like a real rat when we’re being told it's only coming to us in Part 8 in September and we won’t be told the preferred route until then.”

He demanded that Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) “show us a small bit of respect and show the people whose land they’re proposing going through a small bit of respect. There’s no respect being shown here at all. I don’t know what sort of gob*****s you think we are down around this table.”

Mayo County Council clarified they didn’t think anyone was a 'gob****e' and denied TII were trying to “bulldoze through anybody’s land”. Rather, agreement was being sought from landowners, the officials stated.

Cllr Mulroy agreed that TII will “exhaust all conversations with people” but they will “ultimately take the land and the person will have no choice. If you disagree with TII, they will come and compulsorily purchase your land.”

Cllr John O’Malley warned there would be “bad, bad trouble” if TII CPO land and he wouldn't be responsible for what will happen.

“We’re all pro-greenway. At no stage did I say that I was anti-greenway,” Cllr Mulroy said. Addressing “a perception gathering moss that myself, Cllr O’Malley and Cllr Maxwell are anti-greenways, he said that “there is nothing further from the truth.”

“We’re all in favour of the greenway, as long as landowners and property owners are respected,” Louisburgh-based Cllr Maxwell told the meeting.

The three councillors had voiced their support for an earlier plan to have the proposed greenway along the R335 road to Louisburgh. They expressed their hope that the road would be improved alongside the development of the greenway on that route.

Highlighting the potential dangers of a greenway beside the roadway, Cllr Peter Flynn said: “We should be looking to make sure safety is paramount. The off-road option is way better than one that runs alongside the road. If you want a reason to keep a greenway away from a road take a trip from Newport to the Kilbride-area and up into Kilmeena and you can see the difficulties of people interacting with cars.”