A big thank you to everyone who has supported the petition for a greenway on the closed railway from Athenry to Collooney.  The petition has now passed a milestone of 26,000 signatures.  To mark this incredible achievement the petition has now been sent to the Oireachtas Public Petitions committee;  hopefully the matter will now be sent to the House of the Oireachtas for debate.

In the meantime, 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 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, with all this in mind we ask again for what we have been saying now for many years;  Until such time as the railway happens let’s use this route as a greenway to protect the alignment and when and if the railway is re-opened a parallel greenway must be built alongside.

The Rail review has done one good thing it means that North of Claremorris through Mayo and Sligo it is now clear from the strategic rail review that this closed railway line is no longer planned to be a railway again at anytime in the future.  Now is the time to fully protect this route in public ownership with the East Mayo Greenway from Claremorris to Charlestown county Mayo and the Sligo Greenway from Colooney to Charlestown.  Let’s at least get this done now!

Thank you all again for signing the petition, for sharing it and sending it on to friends etc.  The petition has now been submitted to the Oireachtas Petitions committee.  Let’s wait and see if democracy means over 26,000 people are listened to!

Thanks

Brendan.