Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sure that in County Mayo the pathway for the greenways being developed required deviation from an old railway line. I know this happens in many areas. There are negotiations with farmers to enable it to happen. In my experience, there is always a solution to be found if people come to these things with a solution-focused mindset and try to find a way around it. This is certainly the case in this context.

Doing both together would certainly be easier. For instance, if we were to put the greenway alongside the existing rail track and then come in afterwards, five years later, to build a railway line there would clearly be a major amount of disruption and possibly damage to the greenway. This is something that needs to be borne in mind. Doing both together at the same time would be the optimum way of doing it. Vice versa, if the railway were to be done first and then we try to build a greenway later it would not be the way to progress. We should try to do everything together. When machinery and equipment are there on that part of the track it is the time to do everything. In this context, does Mr. Kenny think there would be an additional delay in developing both in the twin-track approach I am speaking about rather than doing them singly?