Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator McGahon for giving me the opportunity to talk about greenways and blueways, on behalf of the Minister for Transport.

It is important to note that the development of greenways in County Louth is first and foremost the responsibility of Louth County Council, which the Senator referenced. The county council should liaise with Transport Infrastructure Ireland as it has recently taken over the responsibility to develop the roll-out of greenways under the Strategy for the Future Development of National and Regional Greenways. Urban greenways and active travel infrastructure is within the remit of the National Transport Authority. There is a bit of a grey area with cross-Border greenways and Louth County Council should continue to work with the Department of Transport in that regard.

Blueways are a matter for Waterways Ireland. It is not a body that comes under the remit of the Department of Transport. As I am sure the Senator is aware, Waterways Ireland comes under the auspices of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which was my old Department, and does a lot of good work in terms of blueways.

The Department of Transport currently funds two greenway sections in County Louth. First of all there is pre-construction funding of €200,000 that was awarded in 2020 from the carbon tax fund for a section from Carlingford to Templetown. The Department is also a co-funder of an INTERREG project for the Carlingford Lough greenway section that runs from Carlingford to Newry. A design team has been appointed for the Carlingford to Templetown section and it has commenced baseline data collection for the project that will go towards informing the route options.

The Carlingford Lough greenway, which is the Omeath to Newry section, is a joint project between Louth County Council and the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council and East Border Region that is co-funded by the EU INTERREG programme. The project will deliver 12.35 km of greenway. In 2018, a 3.5 km section was completed in Northern Ireland from Victoria Lock to join the greenway from Newry. Three further sections are being completed: a 2 km section from Victoria Lock to the Border; a 4.2 km section from the Border to Omeath; and a 2.65 km section from Carlingford to the marina. Tender documents for the main construction contract are being prepared for issuing on completion of a planning application in Northern Ireland. There are several other greenway sections being planned by Louth County Council, including the Great Eastern greenway, the Louth Coastal Way, a Dundalk to Sligo greenway and the Boyne greenway.

It is important that Louth County Council engages as early as possible with landowners who might be potentially impacted by a route, and that the county council carries out as much work as possible ahead of the next funding call so that it is well positioned to be awarded funding. The county council should engage with as many stakeholders as possible, particularly the National Parks and Wildlife Service to avoid any potential environmental problems.

In terms of future plans, Transport Infrastructure Ireland has recently commenced work on developing a national cycle network. I note the Senator's comment that small and indigenous companies spring up around greenways and how greenways bring a lot of economic viability to an area. So they are worth creating. The key is to get Louth County Council to work with the TII on developing new greenways. There will always be calls for further funding for other construction projects, under the national and regional greenway projects, to which the county council can make submissions.