Routing of greenways has “been somewhat too rigid”, according to Lorcan O’Connor, CEO of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).

“There is an acknowledgment from TII that perhaps the approach to date has been somewhat too rigid in trying to get the most efficient route,” he told an Oireachtas committee on agriculture on the matter.

“If we can skirt around a landowner’s property that should be something that we look at more so than we have in the past... I think we should have greater flexibility to see if we can skirt the circumference of a farm or landowner.”

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He said: “TII acknowledge the level of concern expressed by landowners and farming organisations in relation to greenways and we are working with the Department of Transport to find mechanisms to improve the existing processes and procedures.”

However, he added that “there is a misconception that the issuance of a CPO brings voluntary negotiations to an end", and that was not the case.

O’Connor said that a change in the CPO process would require a change in Irish law, which is outside the remit of TII.

'Necessary safeguard'

Barry Kehoe of the County Council Managers' Association (CCMA) told the committee that he was aware of a “large number of sensitivities around the proposed greenway projects”, and that there was “was an impression that CPO was almost the first step, instead of the last step”.

However, he said that they were “a necessary safeguard for the protection of public investment”.

Voluntary agreement

He said that CPOs were a power exercised under “significant scrutiny”, and “while everything around the process is designed around reaching voluntary agreement, if you don’t have the CPO as part of your box of tools, it can be problematic”.

All CPO proposals must be submitted to An Coimisiúin Pleanála for independent approval, and that oversight was “important protection for landowners and for the public interest alike”, Kehoe added.

Landowner consultation

In terms of landowner consultation, and whether it is adequate or not, Geraldine Fitzpatrick, head of roads and greenways at TII said: “I’m not saying the landowner isn’t consulted, but there is more general consultation at the constraints study and at route options stage. So, there is broad general engagement at that point. There would be notices out about public consultations open to everyone to attend.

I would like to reach agreement with all the landowners at the earliest point possible in all of the projects

“When the emerging route is pointed out, at that point, there would be individual public consultation, but there is consultation the whole way along, including the opportunity for landowners to engage earlier.”

She added that there “has only been three greenways where there have been CPOs which we have been involved in”.

Questions were raised by TDs and senators regarding greenways use for the “common good”.

The 'common good'

“CPOs secure infrastructure for the common good. Certainly, in my mind, greenways reach that definition. To that extent, it falls within the remit of what could be applicable to CPO,” Lorcan O’Connor told the committee.

“If the taxpayer is investing in a project and an asset, it must have ownership of that asset. That is where the CPOs talk to the delivery of greenways.”

He said that “there is a lot of national policy that lies behind what is ultimately proposed by way of the common good assessment”.

Payment

With regards to payment, O’Connor said: “I would like to reach agreement with all the landowners at the earliest point possible in all of the projects, and I think what we’ve tried to show in the appendix is that throughout the various steps involved in the CPO process, there’s an ability to reach a voluntary agreement”.

“Where you see instances where a final transaction hasn’t concluded, it is as a result of both parties.”