[westtip]

Well the Tuam Herald did us all a service this week!

[Muckyboots]

http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/518http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/5187676
There is enough Irony in this to fully Ferrous Oxide the tracks from Sligo to Athenry.

[serfboard]

Originally Posted by Muckyboots

http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/518http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/5187676
There is enough Irony in this to fully Ferrous Oxide the tracks from Sligo to Athenry.

Jaysus that's feckin hilarious.

You could imagine a German MEP (let's call him Helmut Fritz) looking at a map of Ireland and thinking - "Yes, there is no rail infrastructure there. There should be."

Unfortunately, Herr Fritz is basing that analysis on the belief that Ireland is planned like Germany, where only people who work on the land live on the land, and everyone else is in a well-planned town or city.

That is not Ireland. Here, we scatter the houses throughout the countryside like confetti, hence no critical mass in our towns, hence no demand for rail services from those towns.

Bus and Rail Park 'n Rides on the peripheries of the cities are what's needed here. Not empty trains meandering around the countryside.

[Muckyboots]

Originally Posted by serfboard

Jaysus that's feckin hilarious.

You could imagine a German MEP (let's call him Helmut Fritz) looking at a map of Ireland and thinking - "Yes, there is no rail infrastructure there. There should be."

Unfortunately, Herr Fritz is basing that analysis on the belief that Ireland is planned like Germany, where only people who work on the land live on the land, and everyone else is in a well-planned town or city.

That is not Ireland. Here, we scatter the houses throughout the countryside like confetti, hence no critical mass in our towns, hence no demand for rail services from those towns.

Bus and Rail Park 'n Rides on the peripheries of the cities are what's needed here. Not empty trains meandering around the countryside.

These reports go on to the Commission next. I'd expect big Phil & Co will but a thooth in it so as not to leave the Government exposed to a half billion white elephant & to the EU stumped to match it. Zee Germans will get to march through and cycle our fair and pleasant lands and leave their easily earned euros in towns and villages all along the inner West. WAW for the yanks in hired cars and guided coaches.

[westtip]

Originally Posted by Muckyboots

These reports go on to the Commission next. I'd expect big Phil & Co will but a thooth in it so as not to leave the Government exposed to a half billion white elephant & to the EU stumped to match it. Zee Germans will get to march through and cycle our fair and pleasant lands and leave their easily earned euros in towns and villages all along the inner West. WAW for the yanks in hired cars and guided coaches.

Clearly Matt Carthy did not let slip the following

• 23,000 have signed an online petition asking for a greenway on this route.
• 3,000 people marched on streets of Tuam asking for greenway
• several more thousand have signed hard copy petitions for the greenway
• Sligo county council have officially (no protesters or petitioners their Matt) applied for funding for a greenway on the Sligo section of the route
• Galway county council have applied for funding for a study to look at the greenway on the route
• Mayo County council (bless them) have received 300,000 euro use 12 km of the route for leisure purposes with a license for a Velo Rail until 2027 to us the route for leisure. This project is a bit of a hotchpotch but still it shows that even the diehard MCC WOT supporters don't see this becoming a railway.

Matt....Did the SF/WOT high command ask you to keep quiet about all this! Perhaps a few press releases into the right email boxes in Europe might do that!

[DaCor]

All the greenway groups along the route are actively now making submissions to the North West Regional Assembly after it was spotted that some WOT shenanigans were underway.



The submissions being made are as follows and are being submitted through the online submission form at https://www.nwra.ie/rses/

I am making a submission in relation to the RSES draft report. It is clear that Objectives 115 (a) and 115 (b) of the draft plan need to be removed as they clearly contravene the National Development Plan. Both objectives 115 (a) and 115 (b) are presumptive of the outcome of the Western Rail Corridor Review of the closed railway line that is currently being undertaken by the DTTAS as part of the Ireland 2040 National Development Plan. It is not within the remit of the Regional Spatial Economic Strategies to assume the outcome of the rail review. Objectives 115 (a) and objective 115 (b) contradict the Ireland 2040 National Development Plan which only facilitates a review of the line from Athenry to Claremorris and does not include the line north of Claremorris. Until this review is completed no assumptions can be made about the closed railway line ever being re-opened and to make such a sweeping assumption and build it into a Regional Strategy would be contrary to the National Development Plan. I suggest that objectives 115 (a) and (b) be reworded so they do not contravene the National Development plan and instead include the following text;

Revision of objectives 115 (a) and 115 (b): If the outcome of the Western Rail Corridor Review from Athenry to Claremorris indicates that the closed railway is unlikely to be re-opened before 2030, then the closed railway shall be considered for alternative uses, for example such as a greenway, until such time as a railway might be possible, in order to protect the route in public ownership. Such alternative usage of the closed railway route would be under a strict licensing arrangement with Irish Rail that if needed for railway in the future then railway will take precedence at that time.

[DaCor]

As for the rail review......

[eastwest]

Originally Posted by DaCor

All the greenway groups along the route are actively now making submissions to the North West Regional Assembly after it was spotted that some WOT shenanigans were underway.



The submissions being made are as follows and are being submitted through the online submission form at https://www.nwra.ie/rses/

I'm surprised that an official body like the NWRA would propose a draft document like this with such an obvious anomaly. It smells of undue influence by the anti-greenway lobby, and it removes all credibility from the NWRA -- they are nothing more than another quango of expenses-gathering councillors with their thinking done for them by wot.

[westtip]

Originally Posted by eastwest

I'm surprised that an official body like the NWRA would propose a draft document like this with such an obvious anomaly. It smells of undue influence by the anti-greenway lobby, and it removes all credibility from the NWRA -- they are nothing more than another quango of expenses-gathering councillors with their thinking done for them by wot.

I don't believe the NWRA planners were fully aware of the facts, my understanding is that SF/WOT virtually told them at the pre-draft stage of the new regional plans, there was to be no mention of greenway or western rail trails in the initial first draft. From what I have heard the NWRA planners met and listened to the greenway advocates in the now closed public consultation period and seemed to take on the ideas as quite rational. I also understand an unprecedented number of submissions has been made on the greenway idea so at least it might be up for discussion. Mind you we have been at this a long time, and you never can tell what SF/WOT might do to make sure the members of the North West Regional Assembly don't even get the chance to debate the greenway, they have done this before now, they (SF/WOT) still consider the closed railway as "not up for discussion"

[monument]

Originally Posted by westtip

I don't believe the NWRA planners were fully aware of the facts, my understanding is that SF/WOT virtually told them at the pre-draft stage of the new regional plans, there was to be no mention of greenway or western rail trails in the initial first draft. From what I have heard the NWRA planners met and listened to the greenway advocates in the now closed public consultation period and seemed to take on the ideas as quite rational. I also understand an unprecedented number of submissions has been made on the greenway idea so at least it might be up for discussion. Mind you we have been at this a long time, and you never can tell what SF/WOT might do to make sure the members of the North West Regional Assembly don't even get the chance to debate the greenway, they have done this before now, they (SF/WOT) still consider the closed railway as "not up for discussion"

Posters have been warned on this before -- cut out the SF/WOT nonsense.

-- mod

[westtip]

Originally Posted by eastwest

I'm surprised that an official body like the NWRA would propose a draft document like this with such an obvious anomaly. It smells of undue influence by the anti-greenway lobby, and it removes all credibility from the NWRA -- they are nothing more than another quango of expenses-gathering councillors with their thinking done for them by wot.

Yep we might still come up against this nonsense - A member of Mayo coco and apparently on the NWRA by virtue of the fact he is on some committee of councillors called "The committee of the Regions", I know you couldn't make it up, I think it is a quango for European Expenses Cllr Murray who represents Sinn Fein who is also very Pro West on Track who said this in 2014.... it is the infamous "The Western Rail Corridor is not on the table and is not up for discussion" quote on national TV. He will do his best to stop the debate created by the hundreds of submissions the NWRA has received on this issue:

Here is a reminder of how intolerant some politicians are of debate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7G_Zd47HRc

[westtip]

Sources suggest that the NWRA got just over a thousand submissions on the new Regional Planning Strategies, unofficial indications are that about 80% of all submissions called for the Western Rail Trail to happen on the closed railway from Athenry to Sligo. Submissions in support of the greenway came in from several of the TDs in Sligo and Galway, businesses, sports clubs and hundreds of members of the public - Mayo TDS were conspicuous in their silence. Several cllrs also made submissions and Sligo county council executive made a greenway supporting submission to counter any attempt by West on Track to try and stop the Sligo Greenway from happening, but you never can tell what might happen on that one.

It would appear that the myth of all councils in the west now only supporting the railway option is just that ......a myth.

The TDs who made submissions supporting the greenway were from FF and FG, it can be safely said that the only party that clearly has a one track mind re the railway is SF, although privately party members do support the plan to create tourism jobs with a greenway.

There will now be a battle of political minds in the North West Regional Assembly to get the greenway written into the regional plans and to make sure the issue gets debated by members. What is clear though is that the Western Rail Corridor is most certainly up for discussion.