Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for taking this important issue regarding the need for us to progress the Barrow Blueway. She will be aware of my keen interest in the progression of the blueway through County Kildare. I have raised it with her and her officials on a number of occasions in the past.

The Barrow Blueway project is being dealt with by Waterways Ireland which originally made applications to Kildare, Laois and Carlow County Councils in 2017 for the development of the Barrow towpath to enable it to become a blueway. The planned upgrade was to provide a multi-use shared leisure route connecting Lowtown beside Robertstown in County Kildare, with which the Ceann Comhairle will be very familiar, to St. Mullins in County Carlow, a distance of 115 km of off-road, flat, accessible public space. The original proposed trail was to pass through the village of Robertstown and the towns of Rathangan, Monasterevin and Athy in County Kildare linking on to Carlow and it was anticipated to become a blueway.

There is major interest in and support for this project in County Kildare. I want to put on the record that despite pockets of objections further south in other counties, the people of Kildare are absolutely supportive of this project. They believe it is the right thing to do and can appreciate its great potential when we consider other greenways and blueways and the economic prosperity they have brought to other rural areas and towns and villages.

There has been a long planning history to this project since then, which I will not go into. An Bord Pleanála ruled on the project in February 2019 refusing permission for the proposed development along the Barrow in all three countries of Carlow, Kildare and Laois.

However, in respect of Kildare and Laois the decision pertains only to the riverbank. Waterways Ireland has been given the green light for a new track on a section of the canal stretching for approximately 50 km from Lowtown and Robertstown to Athy.

My main purpose today is to find out what the intentions of Waterways Ireland are with regard to progressing the blueway in County Kildare, which is much anticipated by recreational users and businesses alike. Waterways Ireland stated clearly in its application to An Bord Pleanála that it would only proceed on the basis that the project was approved in its entirety. The 50 km stretch of the proposed blueway in Kildare is ample reason to proceed and can stand on its own two feet. I have no doubt that some of the people in County Carlow who objected without full information on what is being sought would demand that the blueway be extended to St. Mullins if they saw it being successfully developed in County Kildare. That is their business, however, and a matter for another day. We want to focus on the area for which planning permission has been given. While certain elements of the route along the River Barrow were not approved, the element in Kildare is sufficient to make its development feasible for development. This will give the towns of Kildare, Rathangan, Monasterevin and Athy an opportunity to develop the economic activity that can be spun off from these projects, as has occurred in other areas.

I am familiar with the greenway from Waterford to Dungarvan, which attracted 250,000 visitors between March and December 2017. An analysis has shown that each visitor spent on average almost €30 in the locality, with those who stayed overnight spending almost €110. This type of economic activity could transform Monasterevin, Rathangan, Athy and all of the areas in between that we want to see developed. I ask the Minister, through her good offices, to implore Waterways Ireland to drive on with the Kildare element of the project and allow us to develop it to show the benefits it can deliver to our area and show off to visitors the beautiful landscape and countryside of south Kildare. One other major benefit of a greenway from Robertstown would be that it would create a direct link between south Kildare and Dublin. We know how many tourists stay in Dublin and that many of them drive through County Kildare. The challenge we have is to get them to spend the night in Kildare. A greenway and blueway from south Kildare to Dublin would create major opportunities in the south of the county.

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