Ms Geraldine Fitzpatrick:

First, to address the different touch points through the code, it starts with a very broad area called the constraints study. It looks at the whole general area. At that point, what generally happens is that there are mailshots and public consultation in that regard. As the process goes through, the area being considered is brought down to a more confined version. It starts with route options, and then there is consultation with the public in general and affected landowners in terms of public engagement meetings. It is only at the point where we get to the more confined, preferred corridor, which is the next section, that the affected landowners are engaged with directly. There is also the appointment of a liaison officer, whose job it is to engage directly with the landowners and to be there to deal directly with them. If we consider, however, that we are starting from a broad area and confining it as it goes through the different steps, when we are talking about the large area, the level of engagement is less. It gets more involved as it gets to the point where a corridor has actually been picked.

In terms of the structures the Deputy is asking about, it must be remembered that we have a confined budget of €60 million per year for the whole programme. We do engage and look at park areas, but again it must be remembered that this is happening within the confines of a limited budget. The priority would be the delivery of the kilometres of greenway before we would look at the purchase of other facilities associated with it.