Find a solution now as threat of legal action over greenway will result in no winners

SIR,

In response to your front-page coverage of the IFA protest against the South West Kerry Greenway – or rather CPOs – in which it is claimed that up to 50 land-owners are objecting to it and that it will be dragged through every court in the country and beyond, I wish to make a number of points.

I have been in business in south west Kerry for close to 40 years, and in that time I have seen one source of employment after another disappear without being replaced. I have also seen developments such as a government office built on the town’s pier instead of an amenity such as a hotel; and private houses being built where restaurants and retail units would, it could be argued, be better-suited.

We are now almost 100 per cent dependant on the retail and hospitality sector to provide employment in the area.

Coláiste na Sceilge opened in 2000 with over 800 students, now it has approximately half that number. There are nine national schools in the area; some did not enrol a new incoming pupil last September, and at least two had just two children starting.

So my question to the IFA is this: ‘What would you suggest as a way forward for South West Kerry if the greenway is to be stalled and blocked for years and years to come?’ Or, perhaps you could enlighten us as to ‘what an alternative route to the old railway line would be?’

I have cycled from Westport to Achill Island and also from Dungarvan to Waterford, and there is no denying that towns and villages along both routes have been transformed by the greenways.

It is also worth noting that another advantage to a greenway is that it provides land owners with a safe passage to the towns and villages on either side of them, be it for their children going into town or themselves going for a few pints. Perhaps a solution to Danny Healy Rae’s concern for rural isolation and the ‘drink driving’ debate lies here.

Like everybody else, I fully appreciate that it is not easy for people to allow the greenway to go through their lands, and a more meaningful approach at the outset would have been better, but we are where we are, and talks of law and courts will result in no winners, all losers.

So please, for the sake of south west Kerry, both sides need to find a solution before funds set aside for this vital project get diverted to some other part of the country. Yours

Jack Fitzpatrick

The Market House, Cahersiveen