Compulsory order for cycle route

Lands needed to complete a €4m greenway cycle route high over the Ring of Kerry are to be acquired by compulsory purchase order because grant funding will run out if the project is not completed by December 2016, councillors have been told.

The order by Kerry County Council will force a small number of the 116 land- owners along the old Glenbeigh to Kells road to sell back gardens and other land parcels in a move described by the council as necessary, because it is under financial as well as time pressure on the project. The old railway line is now owned privately having been handed over to adjoining landowners when it closed in 1960.

At proposal stage for some time, the 26km project was announced before the last local elections amid great fanfare by then Public Transport Minister Alan Kelly — before agreement was reached with all of the landowners involved. The route will not only use the spectacular Kells viaduct, but will also run through farms and back yards.