Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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169. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the status of the planned Burtonport to Letterkenny greenway project; if his Department has allocated funding to same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39403/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I can confirm that there is no funding currently allocated to the Burtonport to Letterkenny greenway project; however, I can also confirm my intention to hold further calls for greenway funding applications in 2021. I firmly believe that in the coming years we can support the delivery of a network of well-connected routes in Donegal, and beyond, which can act not just as visitor attractions but also facilitate a switch to active travel for local communities across the region.

The Deputy is likely aware that Donegal County Council did apply for funding of the Burtonport to Letterkenny greenway in 2018 when a funding call in relation to construction-ready projects was held. However, as the project did not have planning permission in place it was not considered for funding at that time.

More recently the Council again applied for funding under the Carbon Tax Fund but the application was unsuccessful due to both the fact the funding call itself was heavily oversubscribed and the fact that this particular project was unable to sufficiently demonstrate its strategic potential to link into other related infrastructure in region.

However, three other applications put forward by Donegal County Council were successful and were allocated funding -

My Department also contributes funding to the INTERREG Programme in Donegal that is funding cross-border Greenways from Derry to Buncrana, Derry to Muff and Lifford to Strabane. The intention is that we can build on those projects with our Carbon Tax Fund projects to create an Inishowen Peninsula loop and also extend the Derry to Carrigans Greenway.