Back to the drawing board for long-awaited Tipperary greenway
A planned greenway linking two popular Tipperary tourist towns may have to go back to the drawing board due to difficulties in identifying a viable route, it has been revealed.
Plans for a greenway linking the towns of Ballina and Dromineer along the River Shannon have been in the offing for a number of years.
The walkway would see a 24-kilometre walking and cycle track built which would open both towns up to an increased number of tourists, as well as creating access to other tourist attractions in the area.
The project is currently at phase two of delivery, which is the options selection phase. Tipperary County Council is working to identify a route for the greenway, and are engaging with local landowners whose lands may run along the proposed route.
At the January meeting of Tipperary County Council, Fine Gael councillor for Ballina Phyll Bugler asked the council executive for an update on the project, which has been paused at the options stage for a considerable period of time.
"I keep asking about this at every council meeting where we have the roads directorate,” Cllr Bugler said.
"Phase two of the Ballina to Dromineer Greenway, we got the options back from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) in September 2024, Tipperary County Council is still reviewing it, but we really need to get some clarity on this.
"There are a lot of farmers on this route, we need to know where this is going, and how much money is going into consultants on this project,” Cllr Bugler asked.
In response, a senior engineer in the council’s roads section said that the planning for the greenway was complex.
"Since our last meeting I’ve been examining all of the routes, and to say that it’s challenging would be an understatement,” he said.
"All of the routes are challenging, and TII are pointing us towards a rethink, and it is unlikely that there is a route there, it’s either very, very treacherously steep, or going through a lot of people’s farmyards.
“There are sections along the way that would be okay, you might get five kilometres here and another two kilometres there, but there is no continuous route that seems to be acceptable to everybody, so there’ll be a serious rethink on that,” the meeting was told.
Cllr Bugler pointed out that there is land owned by the ESB that was mooted to form part of the Ballina to Dromineer Greenway, and questioned what the plan for this land would be.
"Have you progressed the route along by the lake, the ESB land that they own, that really is the route that we should be taking,” Cllr Bugler pointed out.
In response, the Fine Gael councillor was told that land is unsuitable.
"That route is not there, those ESB lands go back to when the ESB was purchasing land as part of the Shannon scheme, so it’s the edge of the lake, it’s silt and it’s scrub, and it’s not continuous, there’s little bits of outlets and inlets and beaches, and it doesn’t join up to a route,” Cllr Bugler was told.
The planned greenway will now be subject to a full rethink by TII and Tipperary County Council, casting uncertainty over the future of the project.