Farmers and landowners from across the country are set to protest outside Leinster House later this month over concerns about greenway projects.

The protest, organised by the National Greenway Action Association (NGAA), will coincide with a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport which is due to discuss greenways on November 12.

Among those expected to address the committee will be Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA), the NGAA and a representative from the Waterford greenway.

Greenway

Cleona O'Shea, who is chair of the National Greenway Action Association (NGAA), will tell the committee there needs to be more respect and fairness for landowners impacted by greenways.

The association, which was established on August 1, 2024, now includes 16 groups of landowners and property owners from around the country who are being affected by greenways.

"We're all private property owners. It's not that we're anti-greenway, it's that we're against the process they are using to deliver them," she told Agriland.

O'Shea said the potential for local authorities to use Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) to acquire the land needed for greenway projects has caused "much stress and anguish" among landowners.

The NGAA wants the option of CPOs for greenways to be removed, as they are "not essential infrastructure".

The association is also calling for the code of practice on greenways to be adhered to by local authorities.

Farmers

O'Shea has a beef and tillage farm in Fermoy, Co. Cork which she fears may be potentially "cut in half" by the proposed Mallow to Dungarvan greenway.

She said the last update on the project she received from Cork County Council and TII was in June 2024.

O'Shea believes the "narrative" of using abandoned rail lines for greenways is "very misleading to the general public".

In many cases around the country, she said these rail lines have been bought by farmers and are now part of their holdings.

"If you stood in the middle of my farm, if I didn't point it out to you, you'd never know where the rail line was here. The corridors are gone, it's incorporated back into farmland," she said.

O'Shea said there needs to be improved consultation between local authorities and landowners, who she described as "major stakeholders" in these projects.

She also said that greenways should run alongside national routes, rather than going through productive farmland.