Petition for west greenway to be discussed by Oireachtas committee
THE Western Rail Trail campaign - the campaign to utilise the route of the closed railway from Athenry to Sligo as a greenway until such time as a railway might be possible - will present a petition with over 26,000 signatures to the Oireachtas Petitions Committee this week.
Spokesperson Brendan Quinn said: “We submitted the greenway petition signed by over 26,000 voters in July of this year. We have have been notified the petition will be discussed by the Joint Committee on Petitions on Thursday, October 19.
The 26,000 voters who signed it will be kept up to date on how the petition was received by the committee. The majority of them, said Mr. Quinn, live in the west of Ireland.
Commented Mr. Quinn: “It is a very opportune time for the Dáil to consider this petition.
“The government has now published intentions to potentially re-open the closed railway from Athenry to Claremorris in the strategic railway review. This is welcome news but there is no timeframe on when this might happen in the rail review; in fact, the railway is unlikely to be re-opened for many years to come.
“The old rusting tracks are meaningless, they will have to be ripped up and replaced and a lot of engineering work done on the line to restore the closed railway, so why not have a greenway now.”
He continued: “We have long argued that until such time as the railway happens let’s use this route, to protect the alignment, which is in full public ownership as a greenway, and when and if the railway is re-opened a parallel greenway could be built alongside it. The views of 26,000 voters as expressed in this petition are now with the Oireachtas.”
The strategic rail review has done one good thing, said Mr. Quinn. “It is now clear from the rail review that the closed railway north of Claremorris through Mayo and Sligo as far as Collooney is no longer planned to be a railway again at any time in the future.
“Now is the time to fully protect this route in public ownership with the East Mayo Greenway from Claremorris to Charlestown in Mayo and the Sligo Greenway from Charlestown to Collooney in Sligo. There are no excuses left not to utilise this part of the route as greenway now the strategic rail review has made it clear there are no plans to re-open this part of the railway.
“The 26,000 voters who signed this petition are fed up hearing about railways that might or might not happen in the future and are waiting for this asset to be utilised properly now.”