The deeds to a portion of land that the old Mallow to Dungarvan railway line once ran through are sitting in a filing cabinet in the upstairs bedroom of a Georgian farmhouse in Fermoy, Co. Cork.
While beef farmers Cleona and Lyndon Northridge can put their hands on them at any time, they are very aware that this may not be the case for much longer, as plans to develop a greenway along this route emerge.
Stretches of smooth tarmac between 20km and 100km are being rolled out around rural Ireland, but their development will come at a cost for many farmers who are set to see their land fragmented to facilitate the track.
Land devaluation; access to livestock; machinery crossings; animal diseases; anti-social behaviour; a lack of privacy; and the impact on wildlife are just some of the many concerns that landowners have voiced so far.
Now, preparations to develop another 74km greenway linking Mallow in Co. Cork to Dungarvan in Co. Waterford are underway, with the defunct railway line between the towns emerging as the preferred route for it.
The government’s Strategy for the Development of National and Regional Greenways outlines that “it is vital” that those who are planning to develop such infrastructure do so in a way that ensures there is local support. It states:
“Early engagement with the local community and particularly landowners that may be affected either directly or indirectly, before any decisions regarding route selection, is vital.”
But Cleona and Lyndon’s experience has been the exact opposite of this, and two years into the project, they have yet to receive any communication from local authorities about the proposed route that would cut their 120ac farm in half.
Cleona said she, her partner and her 19-year-old son are all heartbroken over what they may soon be facing, but her tone turned to one of anger when she explained that she found out about it all through a post on Facebook.
“The farmers get treated like second-class citizens by the state; we don’t seem to matter anymore but the fact is the country couldn’t survive without us,” she said.
Cleona’s father-in-law purchased a 2ac section of this line from Córas Iompair Éireann (CIE) in 1982, meaning their farm is now one large block, landlocked on two sides and edged with the River Blackwater on the bottom. It has only one point of road frontage onto the N72.
“This route is not a defunct railway line, it is part of a working farm. It’s planted at the moment with beans and some of it is under grassland, you would never even know that there was a rail line there,” Cleona said.
If the greenway was to follow this line, it would sever the block straight across the middle, and leave 50ac of the farm inaccessible on all sides.
“All the value in our farm is in one limestone ground block, the minute that announcement was made on the preferred route, our farm was halved in value straight away,” Cleona said.
Access is a huge concern for the farm family, as Cleona explained that underpasses wouldn’t be a possibility due to the limestone ground that they’re on, and the fact that it wouldn’t be possible to transport large machinery through one anyway.
“So, we’ll have to have maybe three or four access points across the greenway and when you’re doing silage on 50ac and there’s only two of you doing it, you can’t drive down with it, get out, open the gate, drive across, get back out, close the gate, and repeat it all again for every single load,” she said.
“If I want to move stock around the farm at the moment, I can do it on my own with the dog, but when you bring the public into that mix I’d have to have at least two people helping me with that – if not three.
“I can’t just close the gate [to the public] and go get the cattle and come back because by the time I get back down to the greenway with the stock, someone will have opened it and then my cattle could end up anywhere.”
Regardless of the hassle this would cause for the O’Sheas, there are also serious safety risks involved, Cleona said.
“We know that livestock cause farm deaths, look at the figures,” she said.
Figures from the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) show that 190 people have died in farming-related work activity in Ireland over the past 10 years, with 34 of these fatalities involving livestock.
“If owners and handlers are at risk, what are the dangers for the public?” Cleona asked.
These are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the list of concerns that come to her family’s mind when they think about the proposed greenway.
Others include littering, a lack of privacy, anti-social behaviour and security, which is already a major issue on the farm; both Cleona and Lyndon have been assaulted on their own property numerous times.
“How will it be policed? If you can fit a pushbike on it, you can fit a motorbike and a quick getaway will be easier than ever for any intruders,” the farmer said.
Could her family keep going as they are if this greenway comes to fruition? Cleona doesn’t believe it would be possible.
“How could we keep going? We’re not getting any younger and the level of inconvenience it will cause to our daily lives is huge, the business wouldn’t be viable.
“I don’t think we could live here anymore and that is so sad. This is our home, I’m only here ten years, can you imagine if you were born and reared here?” she said.
Impact of the greenway on wildlife
Cleona also said that the environmental impact of constructing a greenway along this route would be disastrous, as wildlife and biodiversity are thriving around her community.
“The River Blackwater is totally protected because of the freshwater pearl mussels in it that need clear water,” she said.
“They’ve stopped some developments in the town along it in case any silt goes into the river, but now it’s another rule for the council.
“We’re very conscientious of the nature here. We have foxes, owls, otters, swans, bats, we have birds, we have an abundance of protected species here and we all live quite happily together.
“If you start bringing thousands of people out, how long will that wildlife last?” she questioned.
Both Cork and Waterford county councils were contacted for a comment on what other routes they considered for the greenway, why they have not yet contacted some landowners and whether or not they will issue compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) for the project. However, neither provided a statement.
A public consultation is set to open on this project in April, and Cleona said that she, her family and her neighbours will send in submissions during this period and make their concerns clear.
However, she told Agriland that she still “fully expects” that her home will be presented with a CPO at some point in the near future, and the hurt that knowing that causes is “simply immeasurable”.
If this greenway goes ahead the family will be constantly affected by it. “People can go for a walk on it and go home then, but it will have a negative impact 24-hours a day, every day for the rest of our lives,” she said.