Greenways [greenway map of Ireland in post 1]

Urban and rural greenways serve different purposes to my mind. Urban routes are more for day-to-day use by locals, commuting, tackling congestion, promoting active travel, and making the city a more pleasant place to live. Rural greenways are less likely to be used by commuters but draw far more tourists (and locals), supporting tourism and hospitality services in rural Ireland and smaller towns. 

Both are beneficial, both are necessary, both should be built.

True but I think we can still see where they're coming from: the urban ones will probably get more "day to day" trips onto bikes, so more modal shift. But I agree we need both.

I fully agree. Both rural and urban are needed. I just feel sometimes If we are serious about modal shift, getting cars off the road, inspiring a younger generation, the spend should be on urban first and then work outwards to rural areas.
The canals or differ greenway look good, won’t impact traffic and locals too much. Mostly “Offline”

I know I’m a broken record and cork specific but the best example for me is to connect the city to the viaduct first along a big urban population and then work down to kinsale. I don’t see the point in building a rural greenway in total isolation

south Kerry is a great example, the general area needs something. Depopulation is terrible for them. Yet a few local farmers couldn’t see the options for the future, only their own small narrow view point. Shameful from them really. Same in ballinhassig, same in scarriff etc

Lehenaghmore Road Improvement Scheme, south side Cork City and some works on the old Bandon/Kinsale railway line.

The ultimate plan is for this city greenway to connect to the county planned Kinsale greenway!

This is looking east back to Forge Hill/Kinsale Rroundabout direction. Clearance works and concrete foundation being built in the foreground for the new pedestrian bridge. There will be an off ramp down to the railway line also. But I presume this will be closed until the Viaduct Greenway will actually be built.

My most recent query with officials: Viaduct Greenway will start when the road works are all completed, which is Q1 2027. I presume more funding delays, so the greenway MIGHT start construction Q1 2029, then be opened Q4 2030. This is a very ambitious timeline though…..which is mad when you think about it!!!

Could Ireland ever do this, a 2,700 mile coastal pathway around England has been opened.

https://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/en_GB/trails/england-coast-path/

"The King Charles III England Coast Path National Trail will be the longest managed coastal path in the world. It will go all the way around the coast of England and will be around 2,700 miles long when it is complete. That is some path, and it doesn’t end there, in many areas you also have the right to explore the beaches and coastal margin alongside the path."

It is a great shame. The public sector does not inspire any hope in getting innovative ideas completed.

They’ll have a coastal path all the way around their much larger island while we are still arguing about starting ours. And there’s no need for us to be decades or centuries behind them if we were willing to stand up to the vested interests.

When I visit my relatives in England we can set off in any direction across the fields. It’s a huge boost to the quality of life. One really feels that the countryside is a common heritage to be enjoyed by everybody. The state gives landowners certain rights but they are not feudal lords. In Ireland of all places, we should agree with that.

Most of the Greenway route to O'Briensbridge already exists along the Erinna Canal towpath. There are a couple of private houses on the canal (old lock keeper's cottages probably) and it's hard to know if the towpath at these parts is private. There is no existing path along the river on the Castleconnell side and a lot of the land here is either ESB or privately owned.

Advanced state might be a term increasingly reserved for places like China, Singapore, Taiwan, perhaps Norway or Denmark at a stretch. Ireland and most of Europe has slipped into stagnation and bureaucratic abyss. We've regulated ourselves out of advancement and lack the robust public services needed to accommodate the weight of endless bureaucracy plus advancement like Denmark has.

I’m not sure any argument will persuade some opponents of the greenway by the looks of things:

https://irishcycle.com/2022/12/12/id-be-seeing-red-over-greenways-if-i-thought-the-things-some-do-in-east-galway/

Time may be required to work its magic.

Same as for any greenway it seems. After all, criminals are poor so they can’t afford cars and have to cycle to their break-ins, fresh air and exercise and independent play are harmful to children (let alone adults), and the ecosystem will collapse if anything other than sterile grass is allowed to grow in a field.

It’s depressing rubbish, and doubly depressing that elected representatives who know better whip it up.

The main hope I have for the NTA taking up active travel planning across the country is that a centralised agency will be less responsive to this sort of backlash than local councils, and more likely to deliver infrastructure that benefits us all.

At the risk of sounding a little over the top, I think an integrated web of greenways would change how we think about the island and ourselves. North and South, we need a stronger sense of the common good and this would be a tangible demonstration of it.

If anything you’re understating it. Imagine being able to travel safely and directly between any two reasonably large settlements in this country by bicycle, passing through our beautiful countryside at your own pace, stopping to enjoy the sights whenever you want and popping in to small cafes or shops you would never have spotted in a car.

Imagine how much more connected to our island, to our landscape, to our nature, and to each other we would be if we could safely cycle wherever we wanted.