Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)

I am glad of the opportunity to welcome the witnesses and the concerned people behind my back. As is well known, the south Kerry greenway is in progress and has been for three or four years. Going back to 2014 and 2015, I was a councillor. There was a vote at Kerry County Council about the CPO at the end of 2014 and in early 2015. Along with Councillor Johnny Healy-Rae and a few others, I voted against the CPO. While we are for the greenway, we are against the notion of a CPO because you have to recognise that if a person owns his land, he owns his land and he should have the last say on it. These greenways are fine and grand for the people who want to walk and get out in the open air. However, you must have the agreement of the landowners. That is what I believe. TII has enough to do with roadways. Our national roads are in a desperate state. Killarney, for instance, is clogged. At the end of 2014, we begged the local authority to send down its people to meet those - there were only six or seven of them - who were not agreeing at that time. Before Christmas, at the Christmas meeting, we suggested very hard that they go down and talk to those people and get agreement. That did not happen. Now I know why it did not happen. As I understand it, the CPO is a very crude instrument because when the CPO is in place, the people in charge do not have to, and will not, talk to the landowners. I ask Mr. Lyne to answer one question. Are landowners paid for their land when a greenway goes through it?