Irish Independent - Farming

Cavan to Clare greenway ‘will benefit farmers’

- CLAIRE FOX

A 360km greenway spanning the length of the River Shannon from Cavan to Clare could be on the horizon.

Clare-based businessma­n Eoin O’Hagan is confident that his pitch to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for a greenway to run the length of the Shannon will get approved.

“I pitched the idea to the Taoiseach in March at a special Dragon’s Den- style event in DCU. It would go from the Shannon pot in Cavan and where possible through every town, village and hamlet along the way,” he said.

“The Taoiseach liked it and felt it would anchor the current Hidden Heartlands tourism campaign.”

Mr O’Hagan said he has got cross-party support for the plan and feels if done properly, it would benefit everyone.

“If done right it could be of satisfacti­on for everybody including landowners and farmers,” he said.

“It could offer farmers opportunit­ies to diversify. Once it’s separated from the land and fenced properly, it would work like it’s working in Waterford

— it has brought villages like Kilmacthom­as and Kilmeaden there back to life.”

Meanwhile, IFA environmen­t chair Thomas Cooney has secured an agreement from Transport, Tourism and Sport Minister Shane Ross that an agronomist will be put in place on future greenway projects, and he is hopeful that it will be implemente­d in the current Kerry Greenway Project to prevent Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs).

Impact

“We made the strongest case possible for an agronomist to reduce the impact on farmers,” said Mr Cooney. “Minister Ross said he’d come back to us on whether one will be put in place for the Kerry project but we are confident that there will be. If there was an agronomist there would be no need for CPOs.”

Kerry IFA chair Pat O’ Driscoll said that while farmers there are pro greenway, they are concerned under the current plans that their farms will become “fragmented and disenfranc­hised.”

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