CPOs for Mayo greenway 'would lead to war'

West Mayo councillors have claimed that landowners along the route of the proposed Belclare to Murrisk greenway will be subject to compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) if the project goes ahead.

The matter arose at last week's meeting of Mayo County Council after Cllr Peter Flynn received clarification from management that Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) is the sole funding body and decision-maker for the development of greenways and it will only develop them on publicly-owned lands. Cllr Flynn said the implication of this news was that the Belclare to Murrisk greenway would have to be developed on public lands, meaning CPOs were inevitable. Previously, the council would have developed greenways - most notably the Great Western Greenway from Westport to Achill - via permissive access agreements with landowners. 

The revelation of this long-sought-after clarification drew strong reaction from councillors, particularly Cllr Brendan Mulroy and Cllr Chris Maxwell, who warned that the greenway would never happen under such conditions, with Cllr Mulroy going as far as to state that such CPO moves "would lead to war".

Cllr Mulroy said funding had been in place to put this greenway alongside the road but the plan "mysteriously disappeared".

"What was wrong with this option? Everyone supported it and not only would it have given a new greenway but also a new road.” 

The Fianna Fáil councillor then warned: “The majority of people I know are against the preferred route, so the bad news is that TII is going to come and offer you money and if you refuse, they will CPO your land anyway for the council to own it. That is morally wrong and reprehensible. As the saying goes, bring on the war.” 

Cllr John O’Malley delivered an impassioned speech on what land means to farmers and land-owners, describing the whole process as "immoral".

“TII don’t understand the connection to the land. It is a love for it that you don’t want to give up. It is land your grandfather and father passed down that you don’t want to lose it. 

"It’s not that they don’t want people near them, it is that we want to keep our farms, that our fathers worked so hard to try and keep and just eked out a living on. So these farmers won’t give up the land easy and it not fair to ask them.” 

Cllr Maxwell said TII had made "a disaster" of the proposed greenway, and CPOs would lead to nothing but opposition.

"There is no point talking about compensation. They just don’t want people coming through their lands. Money doesn’t come into it. Leave them alone to do what they have done for generations." 

A decision on the preferred route is due to come before members of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District in the coming months with a vote expected to determine the outcome.

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.