Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The word "opportunity" is often overused in politics, but not when it comes to the impact that greenways have had on our tourism market and on recreation. In Dublin, the Royal Canal and Grand Canal urban greenways are being progressed. In Dublin 15, we have seen rounds of non-statutory consultation and we await the next planning stage. I believe that an application in respect of the Royal Canal greenway will be submitted in autumn. Environmental surveys are being conducted currently and there will be a report on the latest public consultation in June. The sooner there is progress with this greenway, the better.

The Royal Canal and Grand Canal greenways will provide significant recreational benefits, but they are also major transport infrastructure.There are plans to connect the two greenways via Lucan and Westmanstown and to make Lucan into a destination town for tourism, which is great news. South Dublin County Council is heading for its second round of public consultation and Fingal County Council is tendering for preliminary designs and perhaps going into a public consultation on that next year. The National Transport Authority, NTA, is a key stakeholder and it is funding this canal loop.

Why stop there? Why limit Dublin to only urban greenways and transport-led greenways when we have, on our doorstep, the Liffey Valley. The Liffey Valley could easily be a spur to this Dublin canal loop greenway, a spur that would be a world-class and sustainable amenity. It could criss-cross the Liffey Valley, which was recognised as a special amenity area in the 1990s, although nothing has happened in conservation or in enhancing it since. It is recognised by Fingal County Council, South Dublin County Council and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications as an area of outstanding beauty and special recreational value. If we can make greenways work in geographically sensitive areas in other parts of the country, why not do so here? It has hidden weirs, the St. Edmundsbury lands, the Strawberry Beds and Shackleton Mill, a water-powered flour mill from the 1770s. It can also be connected to some of Dublin’s most stunning parks, like St. Catherine's Park, Porterstown Park, Waterstown Park in Palmerston, the Phoenix Park and the Irish National War Memorial Gardens. There is the Farmleigh Bridge, which we should do a feasibility study of to see if it can be opened up to connect from Palmerston Park and Waterstown Park through to the Phoenix Park.

We are talking about connectivity to the Phoenix Park and here is an example of a greenway that would connect to the Strawberry Beds and Palmerston via a bridge that is not being utilised. Then there is a spur to the Dunsink Observatory, which needs to take its place in our heritage and in our cultural and scientific history. We should open it up as an asset and that can connect to the Phoenix Park and Ashtown via the Hamilton Way. It is great that the canal loop greenway is on the table but where is the progress and can we please include a Liffey Valley greenway within that as well?