Greenwayis ‘vital’forarea
KERRY COUNTY COUNCIL HAS RECEIVED CRITICISM FROM LANDOWNERS OVER THEIR HANDLING OF THE SOUTH KERRY GREENWAY PROJECT. AN ORAL HEARING IS TAKING PLACE IN TRALEE TO DECIDE ON THE PROJECT’S FUTURE. SINEAD KELLEHER AND TADHG EVANS REPORT.
KERRY IFA Chairperson Pat O’Driscoll said the fact the South Kerr y Greenway has not yet been built is “a disgrace” and claimed the project “is as far away now” as ever.
At the third day of the Greenway Oral Hearing in Tralee, the IFA outlined that it supports the development of recreational routes but that it is objecting to the proposed South Kerry project due to “the actions of Kerry County Council”.
IFA Environment and Rural Affairs National Chairman Thomas Cooney said the IFA is opposed as they claim all legal requirements were not followed; that the Environmental Impact Assessment Report is incomplete; that the project contravenes Government policy; and that the project contravenes an undertaking to landowners that their land would not be acquired by CPO.
“I shouldn’t be here,” Mr O’Driscoll, adding that he believes if half the effort and resources put into a CPO had been put in to negotiating with landowners, the Greenway would have been built by now.
“The easy thing for [The IFA] was to be against it. We worked with the minister and came up with a code for greenway construction,” the Valentia man said, before claiming Kerry County Council did not follow this code. “A CPO should have been a last resort...instead it was the first resort.
Mr O’Driscoll also hit out “at our councillors for what they said yesterday. We’re against the CPO, but we’re for the greenway, and we’re told we’re disingenuous. I’ve done more work than anyone for this project”.
Later in the day, former Minister John O’Donoghue delivered an impassioned submission in support of the project, which he said is “without fear or favour, the view of the vast majority of the people” he represented during 30 years in public life.
Mr O’Donoghue said that when the last train left South West Kerry upon the line’s closure in 1960, “the train that day didn’t just carry its passengers, and those on the platform weren’t just waving goodbye”. He said the train carried the hopes, dreams, aspirations and ambitions of that generation and generations that followed them.
He said that when textile industries declined in South Kerry thereafter, a trickle of emigration became a torrent. He said that the region was advised to look to tourism as an avenue for sustainable development.
“This [the Greenway proposal] is an opportunity for the people of South Kerry that, in my opinion, won’t come again,” Mr O’Donoghue said. “The hopes, dreams and aspirations stolen along that train line should be restored now.”
Joe McCrohan of South Kerry Development Partnership said he did his “almighty best” to convince farmers opposed to the project to change their minds. While he acknowledged that it is their right to object and described some of the objectors as some of “the finest people in South Kerry”, he again pleaded for them to “make the leap of faith”.
He is from a family of 10, seven of whom have left the locality. He said rural decline has hit south Kerry hard and that the greenway project “is critical for the area”. He explained that the project would go through a field he uses for silage, but that he is happy to “let tourism across the field”.
Jack Fitzpatrick, on behalf of ‘Newmarket Street East Business Owners Group’, said rural isolation has hit Iveragh hard and that some people “do not see another soul from one end of the week to the next.
“This loneliness and isolation can lead to depression, mental illness and, tragically, sometimes suicide.
“The Iveragh Peninsula and particularly Cahersiveen desperately needs this project, there is nothing on the horizon for us otherwise”.
The three day hearing into the South Kerry Greenway heard evidence last week about the vital need for this project and how it would revitalise the entire South Kerry region. It is expected that 250,000 visitors would visit the greenway each year.
BARR ISTER Mi c h a e l O’Donnell, representing landowners, has criticised the South Kerry Greenway Oral Hearing and said that he cannot take part in the hearing in a fair manner as he and his clients had not been presented with the full information in time.
His comments came after An Board Pleanála inspector Karla McBride refused his application to adjourn the oral hearing.
He made the application – on behalf of the Greenway Information Group, made up of landowners and families affected by and opposed to the CPO and the scheme as proposed – on day three of the hearing. Mr O’Donnell claimed his clients received 260 pages of new documentation on the first day of the hearing, as well as over 100 pages of errata and addendum material. Mr O’Donnell said these changes altered the Environmental Impact Assessment Report and Natura Impact Statement.
Mr O’Donnell said not enough time had been afforded to consider the 260 pages of new documentation. He said that any adjournment would have to last a minimum of 30 days for the public to consider the changes, as required by European Directives.
Mr O’Donnell added that it was “outrageous” that his clients be treated in this way, but said no blame could be attributed to the board.
Esmond Keane SC, representing Kerry County Council, described it as “standard” that required amendments be made at the start of a hearing. He described the number of errors as ‘small’ and played down their significance.
He said that coastal protection works encroaching on the Valentia Harbour/Portmagee Channel Special Area of Conservation (SAC) were “extremely limited” and construction was
THE BOARD WILL GET THIS INFORMATON WITHOUT ANALYSIS FROM MY CLIENTS. I AM ENTITLED TO TAKE PART IN THIS HEARING IN AFAIR AND MEANINGFUL WAY,AND I CAN’T DO THAT.” BARRISTER MICHAEL O’DONNELL ON BEHALF OF THE GREENWAY INFORMATION GROUP
not likely to have a “significant impact”.
Mr O’Donnell had described this change as a “material change” because “the document and the scheme are predicated on no part of the development being within the SAC”.
Mr Keane said it would be “inappropriate” to adjourn the hearing.
In giving her decision on Friday morning, Ms McBride said that she would not grant an adjournment.
She said it was up to An Bord Pleanála to decide whether or not to accept the new information provided, when they make the final planning decision.
The purpose of the oral hearing is to gather information to bring to the board and help make that decision.
“The board will ultimately decide if they have the information to carry out their assessments and, in doing so, can decide or not to decide to accept new material,” she said, adding that that was to be the end of the matter.
The new information, as provided on the first day of the oral hearing by Kerry County Council, has been raised throughout the hearing to date.
Environmentalist Peter Sweetman has repeatedly raised concerns about the new information. He has also threatened that he may take a judicial review on the case.
He told Inspector McBride that he could not make a submission at the hearing until he got ‘clarity on the information’.
Mr O’Donnell also criticised Inspector McBride on her decision not to adjourn the hearing, and tough words were exchanged between them on the matter of making a submission to the hearing.
“Don’t treat me like that, it is discourteous, and I will answer in the way I want to,” Mr Sweetman said.
He added that the inspector could not direct the form and the content of his submission.
“I can’t engage in a hearing conducted in this manner. You are required to act properly and fairly, and nothing you said this morning can be deemed as appropriate,” he said.
Mr O’Donnell queried whether sections of the Environmental Impact Study, which he said were not furnished to his legal team, were before the board.
Kerry County Council confirmed that this EIS informaton was before the board and available to the public.
Mr O’Donnell also added that the new information that came before the hearing was ‘fundamental’ and not minor as suggested by the word ‘errata’, which means error.
“The board will get this information without analysis from my clients. I am entitled to take part in this process in a fair and meaningful way, and I can’t do that,” he said.
Ms McBride refused to change her views on the request.
The hearing continues this week.