A greenway first proposed nine years ago is only at the “design and environmental stage”, which will take at least another two years before work begins on the route itself.
The Government has committed €300,000 this year to the southwest Wicklow greenway project to run for 35km from Arklow to Shillelagh via Woodenbridge, Aughrim and Tinahely.
Last year a preferred route corridor was identified by Wicklow County Council and a technical adviser is expected to be appointed shortly to bring the project through the development approval process, according to Minister of State Jerry Buttimer.
Fine Gael TD and former hotelier Brian Brennan, a pioneer of the greenway, acknowledged “positive progress on this project over the past few months” but said it was “simply taking too long” despite widespread support.
READ MORE
The Minister acknowledged: “What might be unique in this case is that the scheme has general public acceptance and deserves to progress more quickly than others.”
Raising the issue in the Dáil this week, Brennan said the first meeting about the greenway “was held nine years ago, on October 17th, 2017, in Lawless’s Hotel, Aughrim”.
He drives the route every week. “I try to have a vision of what will happen – not if but when – this greenway happens.
“We look at cafes on the quays in Arklow, Woodenbridge buzzing with tourists, Lawless’s Hotel in Aughrim reopening, bike shops in Tinahely or more [glamping] pods in Shillelagh.”
The Wicklow-Wexford TD said he worked for more than two decades in tourism and “fought against the Westports, Galways and Killarneys to get tourists into south Co Wicklow”.
The route would be “simply transformative” and would “literally open up new tourism in south Co Wicklow”, he said but they needed the Minister’s help to move it along.
Government support for this “is simply critical, as for decades now there is a genuine feeling in south Co Wicklow that it has been ignored in terms of tourism investment”.
[ Richard Nairn: How green are greenways?Opens in new window ]
Buttimer, who has responsibility for rural transport, said the Government had long recognised the strategic value of greenways and allocated €59 million to Transport Infrastructure Ireland this year to support greenways, active travel and the national roads programme.
He stressed planning, design and construction of greenways was a matter “for Transport Infrastructure Ireland in conjunction with the local authority”, but he emphasised the Government’s commitment to the south Wicklow scheme.
The design and environmental evaluation stage of the process will take up to two years and will establish the “definitive land footprint necessary” for the greenway, the Minister said. He added they hoped to see progress “in the coming years”.
