Laois Councillors welcome new greenway connecting Laois bogs

The proposal of a greenway through Cashel bog, Cul na Móna and Ross bog is a 'huge opportunity' for Laois, Laois Fine Gael Councillor William Aird has said. 

This route would link the bogs together via the old railway line.

Each county councillor within the Portlaoise Municipal District gave their full support to Cllr Aird's motion at their October meeting.

Cllr Aird requested that Portlaoise Municipal District be afforded the opportunity to meet with the officials of Bord na Mona with the Interim Chief Executive of Laois County Council, in relation to Cashel Bog, Cul na Móna and Ross Bog and the possibility of opening up the O' Moore Way that is the old railway line linking all bogs together for a cycle and walkway.

Mr. Paul McLoughlin, Acting Director of Services for Laois County Council agreed to write to Bord na Mona seeking a meeting as requested.

Cllr Aird released a video on social media about the project, and received mixed reactions from the public.

At the October sitting of Laois County Council's Portlaoise Municipal District, Cllr Aird welcomed the project as a 'huge opportunity' for Laois.

"I want to thank the Clonkeen group who started this originally, I think it's a great project," Cllr Aird said on the proposal.

"I know this area well, and I know all the bogs through it. I had to christen it something when writing to the Minister about this proposal, so I called it the O'Moore Way, but this name can be changed," he said.

"I just want to make it crystal clear that we will not be touching any of the banks that are there being cut by people. That is not the agenda, the agenda is on the old railway line that Bord na Mona built when they were extracting the peat off the bogs, which is now complete," Cllr Aird stressed.

"This is a huge opportunity for a very exciting project. If we could do it in conjunction with the lifting of the line that Bord na Mona are proposing, I think that would be great. This project could be opened up relatively quickly. It has a natural boundary, we wouldn't be in a position to go any further with this. The European Parliament would fund something like this, there are three schemes in total that we could receive funding for this through," he said.

"But I do think at this particular time, that Laois County Council have to lead this project, because it is the only way forward. When you're looking for funding, the first thing you're asked is 'are the local authority on board with this'. I know they are, and I presume everyone else is the same in thinking that this will be of a huge benefit to us. 

"The natural infrastructure is there, and it's absolutely brilliant. I just hope that Bord na Mona will buy into this, and they should buy into this. I would be very excited about the project," Cllr Aird finished.

This motion was seconded by Fianna Fáil Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald.

"This has been ongoing for the better part of a year now, a very active committee was set up," said Cllr Fitzgerald.

"Our Acting Chief Executive Simon Walsh, he has been doing everything he can to help us. I can see the Council are very positive about this project, Laois Partnership are becoming involved with the committee. It's a very exciting project for locals, exciting for tourism and so far Bord na Mona have been positive with their response," she said.

"I think the next meeting is with some of the committee members, the Chief Executive and some councillors. When you connect the three bogs together, it's the biggest bog in Ireland. There's also a locomotive that they're trying to buy, it's the last working locomotive there. This is going to be a huge project and you can only do it step by step, but so far we're making great progress into it," Cllr Fitzgerald claimed.

Fine Gael Cllr Barry Walsh also gave his full support to the project.

"I want to fully support this project, it's a huge opportunity for tourism within the county," he said.

"I have a special interest in it because at the moment we are getting a feasibility study done in Ballyroan for the overall village, and the bog was mentioned. It would be great to link in to something like that, there's huge opportunities for everyone there. I fully support it and will happily help out however I can," Cllr Walsh finished.

Cllr John Joe Fennelly welcomed the motion from Cllr Aird, bringing attention to the success of the Abbeyleix bog road.

"All you have to do is look at the success of the Abbeyleix bog road, a lot of people were using that on a daily basis," said Cllr Fennelly.

Pictured: Dazzling Abbeyleix Bog. Photo by Karen Mulhall

"I remember 25 years ago next year, there was a protest to stop Bord na Mona from cutting. Within a couple of years they saw the light, and I think that they have an agreement done with the bog project in Abbeyleix for a lease for several years. There's nothing only positives out of this," Cllr Fennelly stated.

Sinn Féin Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley agreed with Cllr Fennelly, giving her full support to the project.

"I want to fully support the project, I think it offers huge opportunities for the community," said Cllr Dwane Stanley.

"As Cllr Fennelly said, we see the success of Abbeyleix bog. People are coming from all over to visit it. I fully support this motion."

Independent Cllr Tommy Mulligan also gave his full support to the motion.