North Louth landowners say no to greenway

Cooley farmer and Louth's IFA sheep committee member, Mr Matthew McGreehan, has said that “there's not a chance in the world, over my dead body, that a greenway or anything else is going through my land”, and that “as far as we're concerned, this greenway is not happening, full stop”, in relation to Louth County Council's plans for a greenway from Dundalk Bay to Carlingford.

Farmers, landowners and some members of the local community in Cooley, held a protest at Louth County Council offices on Monday morning, ahead of the local authority's monthly meeting, against plans for the new greenway.

Louth County Council, with the support of Transport Infrastructure Ireland, is developing proposals for the Dundalk Bay to Carlingford Greenway project. The local authority has begun its second non-statutory public consultation (Option Selection) for the project, and stakeholders, members of the public and other interested parties, are being invited to participate.

The Option Selection Phase of the project has commenced and Route Corridor Options have been developed within the study area. Louth County Council says that the aim of this public consultation is to receive feedback on the Route Corridor Options to assist the project team in the decision-making process when further refining the corridor options and selecting the emerging preferred route corridor.

The submissions in relation to the material presented at this consultation should be made by the 6th September 2024.

Cooley Community Alert hosted two meetings last week, organised by local councillors in north Louth to discuss the proposed Dundalk Bay to Carlingford Greenway, with a meeting taking place on Monday of last week at St Patrick's GFC Lordship, and a meeting on Tuesday at Cooley Kickhams GFC.

Members of the local community voiced huge concerns at the meeting over the plans for the greenway, and were critical of the level of communication from the local authority on the public consultation which took place at the Ballymascanlon Hotel on 19 June.

At Monday's protest at the Council offices, Matthew McGreehan told the Dundalk Democrat that the people protesting at the Council buildings were “farmers and community. It's landowners and community, the same as the other two meetings that was held at St Pats and the Kickhams as well.”

Mr McGreehan continued: “The feeling is very high at the moment. As far as we're concerned, this greenway is not happening full stop. We all have enough to do without coming out here this morning, we're all busy with our lives and we have enough to do but we feel so strongly, that's why we're here this morning, we want to nip it in the bud now before it goes any further.

“One of the routes is going to rip through my field, the best field I have, and there's not a chance in the world, over my dead body, that a greenway or anything else is going through my land. Not a chance for people to come and walk through my land with dogs, litter, and interfere with my holding that I have worked so hard for. Not a chance in the world.

“It'll make the John B Keane's The Field like a row in a playground, now that's the truth, before this is over. There's not a chance, and that's how high the feeling is in the area. Why should we give up our land, it's a hare-brained idea. There's enough walks there at the minute. How much walks do we want?”

When it was put to Mr McGreehan would they work with the local authority if a different route was put forward, he said, “there is no other route. They're three or four preferred routes there at the minute and we're in total opposition to any of them.”

Opposing any form of another greenway, Mr McGreehan said, “have no doubt about it, this greenway won't happen. It will not happen. And we'll do whatever we have to do, to stop it, that's just the way it is. You know how passionate people in Ireland are about their land and about their holdings, and there's no way we're going to allow this happen. They're saying they're going to come out in November with their preferred route.

“We've made a commitment to each other that we won't let each other down and we won't dwindle off or whatever. We're going to stick together on this."

In terms of the current Omeath greenway, Mr McGreehan said that “the landowners on that have a lot of trouble. An uncle of mine, the fence was pulled down, they had no one to go to, to get it back up. My own brother has a bit of land there along the new greenway and walkers threw across dog sh*te in across in a plastic bag. That's what they done. There's a whole lot of reasons why we don't want it.”

The Dundalk Democrat also spoke to another farmer at Monday's protest, Mr Derek McGrane, who said that “this was forced on us, with no consultation, good, bad or indifferent.

“They're going through good agricultural land, breaking up good agricultural land on the Cooley Peninsula. We were messed over in 2001 during the Foot and Mouth [outbreak], and we're not going to messed over this time again.”

Mr McGrane continued: “They want to break up land and put [in] walkways, we couldn't spray, we couldn't spread slurry, we can't look after our crops. There's cattle, there's sheep, there's bulls. There's people walking with dogs. There's no demand for a greenway on the Cooley Peninsula.”

When asked if the current greenway in Omeath had caused problems, Mr McGrane said, “it caused a lot of hassle in Omeath, a lot of hassle. It's going around the side of people's houses.” Referring to people on the greenway taking photos with their phones, “there's a dead lamb lying in the field, or there's a cow not well, or there's something not right, and this is all thrown back on the farmer, it's all back on us.

“The push on this, they say it's coming from higher up. There's no need for it (the greenway). You have Annaverna Mountain, you have Ravensdale Mountain, you have the Bellurgan soccer team, you have the Pat's complex, you have Cooley complex, you've Grange Mountain, you've Carlingford, you've Slieve Foy, you can walk from Shelling Hill, right round to Ballagan or vice versa, no need for it. They're too well got on the peninsula.”

When asked what they are aiming to achieve from the protest, Mr McGrane says, “we want it stopped. And its going to get dirty. We're not for backing down. It's going to get dirty.”