Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. How does he intend to get the cyclists from Athlone to Ballinasloe if he is not prepared to engage with either the Oireachtas Members or the landowners between Athlone and Ballinasloe? He might clarify, for the record, that some Oireachtas Members in County Galway have been invited to meetings. As he knows, at least two Oireachtas Members through whose parishes the greenway is going have been excluded to date from these discussions. Why has the Minister of State not looked at using the existing public lands between Dublin and Galway - the Bord na Móna lands, the Coillte lands, the National Parks and Wildlife Services lands, and the existing public rights of way that are currently disused - and start from that basis to develop the project? Specifically regarding the route between Athlone and Ballinasloe, it is my understanding that Bord na Móna is vetoing the use of its lands for this greenway on the basis that it is in active production. Surely the same applies to farmland.

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