I will speak about the use of compulsory purchase orders, CPOs, to purchase private land for greenways. This is on foot of a briefing to the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food yesterday from the IFA, the National Greenway Action Association and the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association. I am very much in favour of greenways. There are some in my locality and I appreciate completely the benefits they bring to any rural area in particular. However, what we are seeing more and more frequently is the use of CPOs to purchase private land for greenways. To be honest, it is not good enough. It is damaging to our farmers and is causing a lot of upset within communities. It is incredibly irresponsible of the Minister for Transport and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, to allow this to continue to happen, particularly when we look at the code of practice for greenways, which was agreed by TII and which sets out that if there is to be purchase of lands for greenways, it is to be on an agreed and mutual basis. Quite simply, that is not happening.

This Monday, I visited two farms in Waterfall in County Cork that will be affected by the Cork-Kinsale greenway. These are two active dairy farms. The proposed greenway will cut right across the middle of their land and leave landlocked a large proportion of their land should the farmers ever wish to change their ventures in the future. It will also make access to their parlour, which is on the lower side of this greenway, incredibly difficult.

Lack of consultation is a massive problem. Local authorities are saying that consultation is taking place but this is not the case. It is incumbent on us to review this and to ensure that it does not continue to happen. We look at the Kerry greenway where many farmers have yet to be paid for a CPO. That infrastructural development cost €70 million in comparison with the Waterford greenway, which cost €20 million. This is a completely inefficient and ineffective use of money. I fail to see why TII continues to pull money for these endeavours, which in many cases are not completed. The irresponsibility of it has to be called out. For that reason, I am calling for the Minister for Transport to come to the House to address it on this matter.