Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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541. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the timeframe on the completion of a greenway cycle route (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7042/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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There is currently no proposal with my Department for the delivery of a greenway from Cork to Kinsale.

Cork Co Council (CCC) was awarded €30,000 from my Department under the Seed Finance Scheme 2013 to engage consultants to undertake a structural investigation of three of the major structures associated with the disused Cork to Kinsale railway line and to procure mapping and other data for the proposed greenway route. The seed finance scheme was established in 2013 to allocate seed finance to local authorities, on a competitive basis, to develop initial planning and design work for greenway projects of merit for which the authority would not otherwise have had the resources, and which would allow the authority to be in a position to submit a developed proposal under the next tranche of funding.

While the aforementioned studies were undertaken CCC were not in a position to submit a developed proposal to my Department under the National Cycle Network Funding Programme 2014-2016. I understand that CCC's Greenways Project Manager has been progressing planning for greenway projects in the interim and has recently requested a meeting with my officials to discuss progress on this and other projects in the County.

Unfortunately, all funding from my Department for the development of greenways is fully committed up to 2016.  However, I look forward to CCC submitting a proposal for this project under future funding initiatives and opportunities.