IFA Meet Sligo and Leitrim County Councils & ARUP on Railway Greenway
The IFA highlighted the very serious concerns of farmers regarding the proposed Sligo, Leitrim, Northern Counties, Railway Greenway at a meeting with officials from Leitrim and Sligo County Councils as well as ARUP Project Consultants in Sligo last week.
In a joint statement, the Chair of Sligo IFA Michael O’Dowd and Leitrim IFA Chair Liam Gilligan said IFA made it very clear that Greenway projects like the SLNCR should maximise the use of public lands and minimise the impact on private lands, in line with the Government Strategy for the Future Development of Greenways and the Greenways Code of Best Practice.
“This is clearly not the case with the proposed Sligo/Leitrim Greenway as the vast majority of the lands on the emerging proposed route are not public or state-owned lands and is in fact farmland as confirmed to IFA by the Project Consultants. This is unacceptable and extremely challenging for the landowners.”
The Sligo and Leitrim IFA County Chairs made it very clear to the project promoters that IFA is opposed to any severance of farms or compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) for amenity projects like Greenways.
Sligo IFA Chair Michael O’Dowd said “The IFA pointed out to the County Councils that the proposed emerging preferred corridor for the Sligo/Leitrim Greenway will predominantly take private lands and have the potential to sever and divide a large number of the farms and this is totally unacceptable. Severance and division of farms will not work and must be reviewed by the Councils”.
Leitrim IFA Chair Liam Gilligan said the proposed emerging corridor put forward by the Councils at the meeting is to follow the old railway route. However, in practice farmers now farm and use most of the land where the abandoned railway line was.
The reality is this is no longer a rail line and is now part of active farms and may include houses and farmyards. Some farmers have registered their ownership of the land where the railway line previously ran.
Liam Gilligan said, “the old, abandoned railway line is long gone, and this land is now active farmland, with some in private ownership, making it unsuitable for a Greenway”.
He encouraged all farmers along the proposed emerging route of the old railway to check out the ownership situation and if they need to register their ownership, they should take steps to do so. As part of the Code of Practice for Greenways, project promoters can contribute a sum of €750 plus Vat towards the vouched legal fees incurred by farmers in regularising their title to the standard required.
IFA made a submission to the Councils previously on the Greenway highlighting a number of additional farmer concerns including privacy, safety and security, anti-social behaviour, litter, animal disease and wildlife, and other issues.
Representatives from ARUP and both county councils updated IFA on the project and the emerging preferred corridor, which is up to 200m wide. Over the next 18 months, the project promoters will be working to reduce the design of the corridor down to 8-10m wide. It is the intention to apply for planning permission in Q1/Q2 2027. Currently the project is on public consultation number three, which is set to close on May 27th.
Over the next 12 to 18 months the project promoters have said they will engage closely with all landowners. The IFA said it is very important that farmers and landowners clearly outline their views, objections and concerns about the Greenway during the current consultation and also in direct contact with the project promoters. The web site for the project is https://slncr-greenway.com/
Michael O’ Dowd and Liam Gilligan said the meeting provided a good opportunity for the IFA to outline the serious concerns of farmers and also provided the project team with an in-depth understanding of the fears and concerns of farmers regarding the proposed Greenway and how it could impact very significantly on their property and businesses.
Note to Editor:
Leitrim County Council, in partnership with Sligo County Council, Cavan County Council, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, under the auspices of transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and Department for Infrastructure (Dfl) are developing the Sligo, Leitrim, Northern counties Railway (SLNCR) Greenway.
The proposed project is to provide a Greenway from Sligo town to Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, passing through Ballysadare, Collooney, Ballintogher, Dromahair, Manorhamilton, Glenfarne, Blacklion, Belcoo and Letterbreen on the way.
