Farmers to get "sweetener money" for not objecting to greenway.

Outrageous yes

But probably more cost effective than having to go through all the legal battles.

Yes the farmers involved will be paid for the land taken if it's cpo'd , but by the nature of a Greenway it's going to be a long strip , which depending on the farm could have a lot of impact on a a holding - or just a lot of legal hassle for a very small piece of ground and very small amount of cash

So the payment is a sweetner ... Remember this is to encourage those who DON'T really want to sell, or just don't want the hassle ...

Instead of the back garden analogy, think more of someone compulsory purchasing part of your bike , while your on a ride , they may not take the wheels , but you've been stopped mid ride - and someone is going to take a pedal,or water bottle - or 1 brake or your front derailer , oh and can't just give it to the guy - you have to get a solicitor , and an engineer to converse with their solicitor and engineer ( all at their cost ) , but you just want to enjoy your cycle ... Oh and here's the 20 quid for the water bottle ,although maybe I just want the lid. .. 2 euro maybe ,.

Why does it matter? I assume they've crunched the numbers and this is the most cost-effective approach. The landowners are essentially waiving their right to object to the greenway.

What are the thoughts of landowners who have taken over land that was previously CIE railway ground, but became defunct when the railway line was no longer used?

If a local authority etc want to now use the old railway line for the common good and create a greenway, rather than let the old line disappear, what are farmer's thoughts?

I'm not being inflammatory here, just genuinely curious? I have zero knowledge of property law, btw. Do 'Squatters rights' come into play here, if the farmer has being using the ground for a certain amount of time?

I know there was a lot of infrastructure (underpasses/crossing gates/privacy fencing around houses and yards/livestock fencing/etc) for farmers/landowners, included in the construction of my local greenway here in Co Waterford. The line originally ran from Waterford city through Dungarvan on to Mallow, Co Cork, and when there was suggestions of continuing the greenway up to Mallow from Dungarvan, it was said it would be very difficult as most of that section had now been absorbed into agricultural use.

I've acted for farmers in a few of these; when you have reasonable people on both sides they are really simple to solve.

When you have pride, stubbornness in abundance they can be close to impossible to solve.

Typically Local Authorities have a license from Railway company to use property in question.

I'm not sure if Railway company have a wayleave or own the properties in question.

Squatters rights don't have the same currency they used to have particularly if there are deed maps with wayleaves marked etc, but the last thing you want if developing a Greenway is a collection of seperate circuit court equity cases, which are tardy processes at the best of times.

I've never seen money change hands, the negotiations are usually around underpasses/bridges/fencing/material movement/disease control etc rather than anything else.

Each location is different; a dry cattle holding between Klimactomas and Durrow is a different proposition to a dairy farm near Dungarvan one will work fine with gates and crossing when weather is damp the dairy farm being completely incompatible with a Greenway.

I'm not sure endless Greenways is the right way to go anyhow but it's what we are going to do regardless

Don't forget about dogs. Plenty of irresponsible owners will happily let their dogs off the lead. Dogs can worry livestock and have dangerous diseases in their poo, so a farmer could lose a lot of grazing land having a greenaway through their land.

Squatters rights kick in after 12 years for private property and 30 for public property, no idea what a old railway line is. But as said for the Luas they had to buy back a lot of land in Foxrock, I'd say buying back farmland would be a lot cheaper.

You'd have to have gates. Otherwise the livestock could stray onto the greenway instead of crossing it.

I doubt that string would be permitted where cyclists are crossing. They might not see it or understand its significance.

Cattle grids could be installed to allow stock to cross a path frequently , gates where it's less regular , of course cyclists would have to give space when crossing , and it wouldn't be great if a tractor just whizzed across a path - which if it's silage season is perfectly possible -

Not every part of proposed greenways are going through decent fields or near busy farmyards .each case would be different ..