Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

I thank Mr. O'Connor. We all recognise the potential of greenways, blueways and cycleways. I want to champion the blueway between Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir in my constituency. All of them are positive national assets. This morning we have heard from many stakeholders, all of whom raised serious and genuine concerns with consultation, compensation, the use of CPO, the effects on private property, rural livelihoods and mental health - we cannot ignore that - and the importance of maintaining trust between communities and State bodies as we deliver our greenway programme. We can all work together to look at the code of practice and see what additional steps we can put in place, particularly in terms of that last resort which stakeholders spoke of this morning, namely, the threat of CPO. In terms of the existing code of practice, there was reference to the lack of consistency of approach by local authorities and project teams. That needs to be looked at again.

We will straight go to members. There is a lot of interest. There will be three minutes each, I am afraid, because I want to let everybody in, including the couple of additional members in attendance. I am first up but will defer my slot until the end. Deputy Boland has emailed the committee. She is allocating her slot to Senator Duffy.