Petition helps greenway lobby back on track

Greenway campaigners are claiming a renewed groundswell of support for their campaign to upgrade the old Sligo to Athenry rail line into a walk and cycleway through the west.

The Western Rail Trail Campaign has called on County Councils in Galway, Mayo and Sligo to ‘seize the change’ to develop the 130m route – on the back of newly available funding from the Department of Transport.

And they point out that, unlike other routes, this one is already in public ownership – so there is no issue with farmers fearing a split of their land.

The greenway also wouldn’t prevent a future reopening of the rail line; in fact the Western Rail Trail Campaign says that the walk would effectively protect the route for a future return to rail if the Government so decided in future.

Campaign spokesman Brendan Quinn has welcomed the fact that an online petition in favour of the greenway has now achieved over 15,000 signatures as the new Government Greenway Strategy is about to be launched.

“There is overwhelming support for the greenway in Sligo Mayo and Galway with community support groups in each county along the route, the response to the petition is amazing we passed 15,000 signatures last week and it just keeps going up” said Mr Quinn.

The group is an alliance of community groups in Galway, Mayo and Sligo campaigning to preserve the alignment of the closed rail line from Athenry to Collooney by utilising the route for tourism and leisure as a greenway until such time as a railway may be possible.

“It would be crazy if all three county councils don’t seize this opportunity for funding for what will be Ireland’s longest greenway and will be a huge tourist attraction for the West.

“At the same time the greenway will protect the route in public ownership should a railway ever become viable,” he added.

Mr Quinn said that the new greenway strategy due to be launched by the government will make available over €50 million for greenway development.

“One of the biggest single issues in creating a greenway is land ownership and rights of way,” he said.

“The entire 130km route from Sligo to Athenry is already in state ownership through Irish Rail so there are no issues of land ownership, the route already belongs to the state and there are no plans for the railway to re-open anytime soon.

“So why not create a public amenity with a 130 km greenway from Sligo to Athenry which will be a massive tourist attraction and bring great amenity benefits to the communities it passes through?” he added.

The umbrella group points to the plethora of local groups advocating a greenway for the rail line – including community groups in Athenry, Tuam and Milltown, supported by two Galway East TDs, Minister Ciaran Cannon and Anne Rabbitte.

In Mayo, the Kilitimagh Greenway group is leading the campaign for the Mayo section of the closed railway to be converted to Greenway from Charlestown to the county border at Milltown, with a parallel greenway to be put in place alongside the short section of track in Kiltimagh which is proposed as a velo-rail route, subject to planning permission.

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