Kerry landowners on route of proposed greenway say council 'running roughshod' over them

Local farmers in dispute with Kerry County Council over compulsory purchase orders of their lands

Clara Leahy in her shop on the Ring of Kerry: Part of her land was the subject of a compulsory purchase order in 2018. Pictures: Neil Michael

The speedy completion of a long-mooted greenway in Munster that has cost nearly €16m and seen little of its planned 32km route completed could now actually depend on the fate of a cow shed.

This is because a landowner who owns land through which the South Kerry Greenway runs plans to sue Kerry County Council over a “repeatedly broken” promise to compensate her for her loss of the building.

It has become a focal point for anger among a growing number of landowners, annoyed about the way they say they have been treated.

They complain of officials walking around their land unannounced and work being carried out without their consent or — in some cases — even consultation.

While the council recently blamed "engineering challenges" for delays to a project that was first formally announced in 2011, it is the interaction between it and landowners that remains an issue.

Local councillor Johnny Healy-Rae believes the decision by the council to issue compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) to landowners "changed everything".

"It set the whole project back, I would say, by 10 years," he said. "Up to that point, everyone got on fine.

"Don't forget, this is the same area of Kerry where there are sections of the Kerry Way — one of Ireland's longest and most popular signposted walking trails.

"That is some 200km-long, and to my knowledge, nobody had to have a CPO served on them to gain access to their lands."

The South Kerry Greenway is among the first greenways in Ireland where CPOs have been used, he said.

As feelings are running high among landowners, Department of Transport figures given to the Irish Examiner this week show costs are also rising.

These reveal the council has so far received €15.9m for this greenway, and a further €7.1m has been allocated to it for 2025.

How much of this has gone on legal fees is an estimate at this point but action involving Clara Leahy, who is a widow, and the council shows no sign of abating.

Landowners Clara Leahy and Jimmy Sheahan: 'What put the tin hat on it for me was when they took Clara to court. That really changed my attitude towards the council,' Mr Sheahan says.

Matters came to a head last month when the council took her to court and was awarded an order to seize some of her land just off the N70 Ring of Kerry at Coolnaharragill Lower between Kells and Glenbeigh, which she inherited in 2010.

It is where she lives with her two children and where she has a gifts and grocery shop, a cafe, a small agri store, and an assortment of cattle, goats, and sheep.

The court action is a far cry from 2011, when Ms Leahy and other landowners attended a meeting chaired by the South Kerry Development Partnership.

Then, they were told the greenway “could be delivered within a three-year timescale”.

According to a booklet printed for the meeting and seen by the Irish Examiner, landowners were told: “It is proposed to obtain permissive access through land along the route”, and landowners "will maintain ownership of the land”.

As to liability for claims from users of the greenway, the body said a scheme to cover “any public liability insurance issues" would be arranged.

It also said any accommodation works would be “developed in consultation with the land owner”, and it stated the aim was to “achieve consent from all landowners”.

As to whether or not a CPO process would be initiated if 100% consent was not achieved, the body said: “If consent is not achieved from landowners an alternative route will be investigated.”

This, however, is at odds with the experience of landowners who have been the subject of CPOs.

A strip amounting to less than an acre of Ms Leahy’s land was, for example, the subject of a CPO in 2018.

The land subject to the order affected access to her cow shed her late husband Mike Breen had built.

It also, among other things, covered land over water pipes from her back yard for the cow shed and other pipes into an external septic tank.

Ms Leahy had, however, agreed not to object to the CPO in exchange for various promises from the council, which it in turn agreed.

These included assurances, outlined in documents signed by a senior council official and seen by the Irish Examiner, that her cow shed would either be replaced, or she would be paid its then estimated €20,000 value in advance of the council coming onto her land, as the shed would become inaccessible once work started.

It also agreed to make accommodations to resolve any issues related to the septic tank, the soak pit, and associated piping.

The agreement, which reaffirmed her "right to be compensated", was contingent on the council serving a Notice to Treat, which is necessary to initiate a CPO process.

This was served in April 2022 but it was around then, as new officials started handling her case, that she says relations between herself and the council deteriorated.

Officials told her, for example, they were going to enforce the 2018 CPO, while also not giving her any indication they were going to honour the original agreement.

A Notice of Entry was served on her in May 2023, prompting Ms Leahy to place large concrete blocks across an access point to her land.

In last month’s court case, the council told the judge: “The construction and completion of the South Kerry Greenway will continue to be impeded and delayed” if full access was not granted to her land.

In the resulting order, it was declared the council was “entitled to sole and exclusive possession” of land that was the subject of the 2018 CPO.

Ms Leahy is planning to appeal this on the grounds the council has, she says, broken the 2018 agreement.

She also believes the order against her is based on incorrect and incomplete information she says she has repeatedly tried — and failed — to get clarification around.

“There are some glaring errors, including reference to the council owning my home, which was pretty disturbing news to me,” she said.

“The judge may well have, in effect, reaffirmed a CPO made in 2018, but I only agreed to that CPO on the basis of an agreement between me and the council at the time.

They have broken the terms of that agreement and have repeatedly made amendments to it that I am not happy with.

The dispute, which has been brewing for years, draws renewed focus on a project that has yet to see the light of day despite the millions being spent on it.

The greenway only finally got the official planning go-ahead in February 2022.

This was after the Supreme Court rejected two applications to appeal a decision of the High Court in 2021 to reject challenges by 83-year-old environmental litigant Peter Sweetman and Kerry farmer James Clifford.

They had claimed planning permission contravened EU directives on Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats and not enough was being done to protect the Kerry slug and the lesser horseshoe bat.

Ms Leahy is not alone in her anger about the way she has been treated by council officials.

Landowner Jimmy Sheahan on his land near Glenbeigh: 'It isn’t just about compensation, but it is also the lack of respect for landowners and the council appearing to pretty much do whatever it wants.'

A 45-acre chunk of Jimmy Sheahan’s 68-acre farm has been split in two by the greenway, and his access is via three separate crossing points.

Added up, the land makes up about three acres in total.

Like Ms Leahy and other landowners, he is a supporter of the greenway and thinks it is a “great thing”, but it is the way it has been handled by council officials that has turned him against it.

He said: “The whole thing has been grievously upsetting.

The greenway is a great thing but it is the way we, as landowners, have been treated and rode roughshod over by officials that is the upsetting bit.

“They claim there is full dialogue and engagement, and there isn’t.

“What put the tin hat on it for me was when they took Clara to court. That really changed my attitude towards the council.

“It isn’t just about compensation, but it is also the lack of respect for landowners and the council appearing to pretty much do whatever it wants."

Horse trainer Phil Keating, who lives in nearby Kells, agrees.

Like Mr Sheahan, who farms both sheep and cattle, she is concerned about the impact of the expected greenway crowds on her animals.

“I have around 10 cattle at any one time and about 20 horses,” she said.

“Some of the horses come to me because they have a few issues with their temperament that need to be sorted out, and I do that.

“But my school yard for the horses is right by the greenway.

“I will have to move my school hard because animals are easily spooked by strangers, and this is a factor the council don’t seem too obviously keen to grasp.

I hope people realise that when they are walking on the greenway, whenever it eventually opens, that they are walking on land that the council took from landowners.

“We are all reasonable people and I cannot stress enough, we are not against the greenway but the disrespect shown to us by Kerry County Council has galvanised a large section of the community against it."

While her agreement clearly stated Ms Leahy would be compensated for the loss of access to her shed in advance of work being carried out, work has already started and she has lost access to her cow shed.

Had the council paid Ms Leahy what they promised for her cow shed— its market value in 2018 — that might have been the end of the matter.

However, since then, stringent new legislation around the construction and use of cattle sheds means the cost of replacing her existing shed — which was built before the legislation came in — is now in the region of €100,000.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

Little wonder that costs are rising on a project Johnny Healy-Rae, who had voted against the use of CPOs against landowners on the greenway, now believes will not be completed until "at least" 2029.

A Kerry County Council spokesperson said: "(We) cannot comment on individual cases.

"However, the development of the South Kerry Greenway is (compliant) with all relevant legislation.

"There are 133 landowners and many agreements have been reached to date.

"When compensation is agreed, the conveyancing process progresses immediately.

"Kerry County Council (is) continuously engaging with landowners in relation to reaching agreement on accommodation works and compensation through engagement (and) negotiation.

"In the majority of cases, this is a straightforward process.

"Kerry County Council has the necessary insurances in place for all construction works," the spokesperson added.