Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Support for Greenways in County Louth has been forthcoming from my Department in recent years. The first completed section of Greenway in County Louth was from Omeath to Carlingford Marina and this is now being extended to both Newry and Carlingford Village with significant funding from the EU's INTERREG programme, along with my Department and the Department for Infrastructure Northern Ireland.

My Department recently allocated a further €200,000 for planning and design work to extend this Greenway towards Templetown Beach under the Carbon Tax Fund. That was the only application made by Louth County Council under that funding call.

The section linking Newry City in to Carlingford is at design phase and there are consultations being undertaken with landowners and other local stakeholders.

An application for a Greenway from Blackrock to Dundalk was made in 2018 by Louth County Council. However, this application was premature as no planning permission was in place and there were some land ownership issues arising so it did not meet the criteria at the time and was not funded.

As part of the Government’s Programme for Government commitments my Department will be looking at ways of increasing Greenways around the country over the coming years, and connectivity and networks will be a key part of this. It is important that Louth County Council continue engaging with landowners and stakeholders in the area to ensure progress is being made towards a planning application for this project.