Ms Cleona O'Shea:

I thank the Chair. I wish the Chair, Deputies and Senators a good morning. I speak today on behalf of the farmers, homeowners and rural communities who are under relentless pressure from TII's greenway programme. We support sustainable recreation but not at the cost of private property, livelihoods or constitutional rights. What is happening across rural Ireland is a State-led encroachment on land that has been paid for by families over generations disguised as so-called greenway development. Councils and TII are placing property owners under undue pressure, issuing threats of CPO and ignoring viable public land options. This is not balanced planning. It has become an abuse of process. Projects that should unite communities are dividing them and are creating fear, stress and generational conflict. People cannot invest, sleep or plan under the constant shadow of CPO. Many older property owners are finding this process deeply distressing. It has become all-consuming, leaving them feeling isolated, threatened and fearful for their homes and their future.

Across the country, the pattern is the same: budgets spiral out of control. The cost of south Kerry's greenway has risen from €4.5 million in 2014 to more than €22 million today, and not one kilometre has been completed yet.

Consultants are paid millions on receipt of invoices while property owners wait years for compensation, which fails to reflect the true loss and lasting impact on families and livelihoods, and then are taxed on it. Communities live in limbo, property is destroyed and devalued, environmental regulations are ignored and through it all, there is no accountability.

TII claims to provide oversight, yet councils act unchecked. Public consultation has become a formality. Maps are drawn by people who have never walked the land they plan to take. The very people who secure Ireland's food supply are being treated as criminals and dragged through costly court cases. Meanwhile, State-owned bodies like Iarnród Éireann can refuse access without fear of CPO, while private citizens face an immediate threat. There is one rule for the State, another for its citizens. That runs counter to the rule of law itself. Let us be clear. The abandoned rail line narrative must end. These lands are not abandoned. They were bought, paid for and reclaimed through generations of work, sweat and tears. Families invested their lives in restoring and integrating these lands into productive farms and rural livelihoods. They are not TII’s to take back by stealth or by policy.

This entire process is Cromwellian in nature, rooted in a colonial system that was never on the side of the Irish people. It is a mechanism of dispossession, a relic of a past when land was taken from those who worked it and handed to those who ruled over it. Generations fought and died for the right to own and protect their property. That right must never again be undermined by the State. No forced project will succeed. The resentment will outlast the Tarmac.

Greenways, as they are now being delivered, cut through productive farmland, wildlife habitats and protected areas. Livestock, machinery and chemicals all create safety risks that are being ignored. There is little or no thought given to biosecurity and how opening corridors and displacing wildlife increases the risk of TB and other diseases. Who carries the liability when disease spreads or accidents occur? It will be the farmer, not TII.

The code of practice is a box-ticking exercise. Public land is disregarded, engagement with property owners is minimal and desktop studies replace real environmental assessments. Routes are predetermined and so-called voluntary agreements are often made under undue pressure or implied threat of CPO.

We call for the following immediate actions: remove CPO powers permanently from all greenway developments; suspend all current greenway projects involving private property until a new framework is in place; restrict future greenways to public land only, except where a property owner freely consents without pressure or threat; establish independent oversight of TII and all councils involved in greenway delivery; and commission a national audit of economic, mental health and community damage caused by current greenway practices.

Until these reforms are made, there can be no access to, mapping of or surveying of private land. Without trust, there can be no progress, no dialogue and no agreement. An Taoiseach himself warned that when we get into CPOs for greenways, we are in trouble. That trouble is now here. It is eroding trust, destroying relationships and deepening division in rural Ireland. Let me remind this committee that we are the public good. For generations, it has been property owners who provided land for essential infrastructure, often freely and in good faith. That goodwill built modern Ireland but it is now being eroded by the misuse of authority and disregard for fairness. When the State places pressure on those who have long co-operated in the public interest, it undermines the trust that is essential to genuine partnership. It is time to act. It is time to end the intimidation, end the misuse of power and restore fairness and respect for the people who sustain this nation, the very people members were elected to represent. Even today, TII has chosen not to sit at the table with us, a decision that speaks volumes.