LANDOWNERS and homeowners along a preferred route for the Cork Kinsale Greenway have disputed published material that they were consulted about the development during Phase 2 of the project timeline.
There was a large attendance in the Marion Hall in Ballinhassig on Sunday evening attended by those who said their homes and lands will be impacted by the preferred Greenway route. They received letters from the Cork National Roads Office at the start of July indicating that their lands or homes are along the proposed EPRC (Emerging Preferred Route Corridor).
Speakers at the meeting included local farmer Eamonn Walsh who pointed out that he did not receive any communication about the proposed greenway.
‘The biggest thing from our point of view is that there was supposed to be a landowner consultation which was Phase 2 of the project but this was skipped,’ he told The Southern Star.
‘There wasn’t one property owner that actually got a consultation. No one called out to us or rang us and they seem to be railroading it along. It’s going through prime agricultural land basically and almost 95 per cent of the route is privately owned.’
He said the greenway would cut through his farm and two of his neighbours.
‘We attended the first public consultation in Riverstick Community Centre last week and we told those present that there was no landowner consultation but they claimed there was.’
It emerged at Sunday’s meeting that no one attending had been consulted about the process in the past 12 months with many saying that the ‘trust’ is gone from the team behind the project.
Eamonn also pointed out that the proposed greenway would be going through natural habitats on some lands.
‘It’s like someone picked up a dart and threw it and it landed at us. We are not anti-greenway but the key thing here is that they have it down in black and white in their own documents that there was landowner consultation.’
Meanwhile, a second public protest was held outside Acton’s Hotel in Kinsale on Tuesday evening on the second day of public consultations.
Last week landowners and home owners also held a protest outside Riverstick Community Centre for the first day of public consultations.
Attendees were encouraged to lodge their submissions by August 15th 2025 which can be done online www.corkkinsalegreenway.ie, via e-mail [email protected] or by post to Cork Kinsale Greenway PLO, Cork National Roads Office, Cork County Council, Richmond, Glanmire, Cork T45 WA44.
Cork Kinsale Greenway was contacted for a comment.
