RESIDENTS who claim they are being bullied into accepting ‘a preferred route’ for the Cork to Kinsale Greenway have called on land and homeowners to use a two-week deadline extension to register their protest by making a planning submission to Cork County Council.
‘Anyone not familiar with the process who would like help in this regard can reach out to us on our Facebook page: The Cork to Kinsale Greenway Residents Association,’ Noreen Ring, the association spokesperson, told The Southern Star.
She pointed out that the original deadline for receipt of submissions, which were previously called ‘objections’, was August 15th but that has now been changed to August 29th.
The number of submissions lodged with Cork County Council as of Monday was 350, according to the spokesperson, who expressed her fear that people living and working on farms along the preferred route could be forced to sell.
‘We have seen the disastrous results of a similar scheme in South Kerry, where the CPO system has divided families and communities,’ said Noreen.
Most of the submissions already lodged with Cork County Council point out that Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) is deviating significantly from their own code of best practice.
Noreen said: ‘They must use a majority of public land for greenways and avoid severance. However, in this case, 90 to 95% of the proposed corridor is in private ownership.’
‘There is a misunderstanding out there that the route is following the old railway line, but that land was sold by CIE in the 1960s and now is fully incorporated into farms and homes,’ she added.
Funding in the amount of €5.85m was allocated to advance greenways projects in 2024; with a further €67m allocated in 2025, the spokesperson stated. ‘And these huge sums don’t even include the cost of actually building the greenways.’
Noreen Ring said the decision to move the deadline for submissions is the first glimmer that the 1,700 residents who received letters saying they were on the preferred route are being listened to.
‘The communication has been disastrous so far,’ said Noreen, who pointed out that they had done a sample survey and found that 50% of respondents said the first time they heard about the greenway was when they received a letter at the start of July advising them that their property has been identified as being on the preferred route for the Cork to Kinsale greenway.
The 1,700 registered landowners are located in the Waterfall, Ballinhassig, Riverstick, Belgooley, Kinsale, Half-way, Killeady Road and Crossbarry areas.
But the line of the route, according to the spokesperson, ‘veers right into West Cork’ to facilitate plans to extend it to Innishannon, Bandon and Clonakilty, and further west.
