Over the last number of years, landowners have been terrorised by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, and its compulsory purchase order, CPO, powers to railroad walkways, cycleways and greenways through their farms, splitting working land and pulling down farm sheds, all in the name of walkways and cycleways costing tens of millions of euro without a worry in the world. If a landowner says "No", TII waves the CPO. This scandalous carry-on has to stop. It has to be taken out of the hands of TII and the CPO needs to be dropped completely.

I will give the example of one landowner in Ballinascarty. After being told that a proposed walkway would go through his yard and after he explained that there were a milking parlour, calf sheds and cattle buildings, he was told not to worry about those and that TII would shove those sideways. It was as if his whole livelihood was Lego. Landowners know that they are in real trouble with this mindset. Landowners on the Cork-Kinsale road, the quiet road in Belgooly, the Bandon-Ballinascarty road, the Skibbereen-Baltimore road and others throughout Ireland do not want their lands compulsorily purchased for greenways. The delivery of walkways needs to go back to be being delivered by communities, not dictated by TII.

The reaction and support for greenways are very significant. TII is doing a study to ascertain everybody's view on how locals feel when a greenway was put in. Results may be only preliminary but they are very positive, with 95% believing that greenways benefited their communities while 92% would recommend greenway development to other communities. It is very much about how the whole community benefits from an investment of that kind, which is a key part of using our community but also the health and well-being aspect of greenways. There is broad positivity towards greenways and I hope they will continue appropriately.

It is scandalous.