Angry landowners accuse authorities of penny pinching over price of wall

Angry landowners in the Abbeyknockmoy and Ballyglunin areas are planning protests over what they describe as a ‘penny pinching and unprecedented’ move not to pay compensation for stonewall removals along the new N63 improvement scheme.

According to CPO Negotiator, Vincent Costello – who represents the majority of landowners along the works route – this is the first time that the roads authority has tried to ‘pull the plug’ on this payment.

Up until now, he said, farmers always got a payment of €200 per metre where stonewalls were taken from the boundaries of their land, to be replaced by timber fencing, but now a move has been instigated to end this payment.

“This is an issue that is being pursued at Dáil and ministerial level, in terms of a question being tabled to Transport Minister, Shane Ross, while senior legal advice is also being sought on the matter.

“There is no precedent for this money not being paid and in fact we have the case of one landowner who has been paid the compensation for a wall on the bigger M17 scheme while he’s not being paid for one on the new N63 project, right beside each other.

“Feelings are running high among landowners and the farming community on this issue and I feel very, strongly, as the main CPO negotiator on the scheme, that this is an issue that should never have arisen in the first place,” said Vincent Costello.

About 50 residents gathered at a meeting last Sunday night in Mannion’s Bar, Abbeyknockmoy, where a number of proposals were heard for protests to be held in relation to the attitude of the TII (Transport Infrastructure Ireland and formerly the NRA, National Roads Authority), as regards the wall issue. A number of speakers asked for landowners not to allow the contractors onto their lands.

Deputy Anne Rabbitte said that it was most disappointing to see the manner in which landowners were being treated in relation to a badly needed road improvement project between Annagh Hill and Abbeyknockmoy.

“I will be pursuing this matter vigorously in the Dáil with Transport Minister, Shane Ross, over the coming days. There really is no reason whatsoever why a unilateral decision should have been taken by TII not to pay the compensation for stonewalls in this case,” said Deputy Rabbitte.

She said that ‘as soon as possible’ Transport Minister, Shane Ross, would be requested to come before the Senate to explain and clarify any change in policy that had occurred, or seem to have occurred, since the TII took over from the NRA.

“This kind of thing just cannot be allowed to happen, where someone – with the stroke of a pen – can try to wipe out an absolutely critical element of compensation to landowners,” said Deputy Rabbitte.

In a written Dáil reply last month to Deputy Rabbitte, Gary Lynch, Head of Regulatory and Administration at TII, said that there was no automatic entitlement for landowners to be compensated for a stonewall.

However, Mr. Lynch, in his reply also said that there had ‘not been a policy change’ in that regard [stonewall compensation] following the establishment of Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

Roy O’Brien, Galway/Mayo IFA Regional Officer, told the Connacht Tribune that there was a clearly established precedent for the payment of €200 per metre compensation for stonewalls and that nothing whatsoever had changed in relation to this.

“It is a legitimate expectation that farmers would be entitled to receive this compensation where stonewall removal is involved. There has been no change as regards this, since the NRA transformed into the TII – the agreement, as had been put in place, has not changed,” said Roy O’Brien.

He also said that the IFA were ‘available and willing’ to support farmers in their efforts to ensure that they secured the compensation they were entitled to, for the loss of the stonewalls as had happened in the past.

The cost of the N63 Road Improvement Scheme that involves significant road widening and realignment is estimated to be in the region of €8 million and affects in excess of 60 landowners.