Galway farmer granted permission to challenge Greenway purchase decision 'splitting' his farm
Paul Neilan
A Galway farmer has been granted permission to challenge a compulsory purchase order made by planning authority An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) to construct a cycleway under the Connemara Greenway Project that he says would run across his land and "split" his farm, making it "unmanageable and landlocked".
At the High Court, lawyers for Oliver Joyce, Emloughmore, Clifden, Co Galway, successfully applied to Ms Justice Emily Farrell to challenge the decision of ACP to grant a May 2025 compulsory purchase order (CPO) to Galway County Council relating to lands he owns at Doireliagh, Doireclunlaigh, Clifden, Co Galway.
The project aims to install a cycle and walkway going from Galway city to Clifden over 76 kilometres that would go through "the backbone" of Mr Joyce's property along the old Galway-to-Clifden railway line, he claims.
Mr Oliver has taken the challenge against ACP's decision to approve the compulsory acquisition with Galway County Council named as a notice party.
Mr Oliver, in court papers, submits that the lands in question have been in his family since the 1940s and that he is conscious that his farmlands are located in a "highly sensitive environment" that includes marshland and hilled areas that form part of the Connemara Bog Complex SAC, a conservation area.
The plaintiff submits the practice of farming the lands through generations of his family was done "in perfect symmetry with the environment" and that he is "very passionate and concerned about this".
Mr Oliver claims that when the project was first proposed by the council, it was to be carried out on a permissive basis such that the council would be facilitated in accessing the lands but the lands would remain in his ownership and open so stock could travel across both sides of the farm.
He submits that his lands have a mix of soil types comprising wet marsh land and dry hilly areas. He said this variety is essential in that each part is integrated and grazed with the marshy area providing water during dry periods and the hilly areas providing respite during inclement weather conditions.
Mr Oliver says the project, as approved by the granting is different to the original, in that it now envisages a wider walk and cycle way. Fencing fencing and barbed wire will run for 2.8km, "splitting" the farm and making it "landlocked" and "unmanageable" as stock moves between the two portions of land on a daily basis.
He submits that he was assured by the council that the lands would remain open for stock to travel and that any fencing would only be constructed when they were required by the landowner and that the application to ACP was one based on his permission.
Mr Oliver claims he understood the project to initially comprise of a 2.5 metre-wide "informal track of a type that one would see in the countryside" but that the more recent, larger scheme now involved a 3.5 metre-wide asphalt track with full fencing involving "sheep wire and barbed wire".
The plaintiff says he was "shocked" that after an initial agreement on the scheme, Galway County Council then said they would "accept nothing less than full ownership" and sought the CPO.
Mr Oliver argues that the "fundamental basis of the scheme has been turned on its head" by the CPO and that the decision to do so was "taken without cause or justification".
He further claims that environmental assessments carried out and submitted to ACP related to the original scheme and that the new elements that arose in the CPO scheme were not previously considered for environmental impact.
Ms Justice Farrell granted leave for the judicial review to Michael O'Donnell BL, instructed by Harrington & Co solicitors - for Mr Oliver - and adjourned the matter to September.
