Secretive Bord Na Móna ‘on the wrong track' says Barbara Daly

FIANNA Fail candidate for the Birr/Ferbane electoral area Barbara Daly has accused Bord Na Móna of deliberately keeping local communities in the dark about the routes of cycling and walking paths along railway lines across bogs in West Offaly. She also challenged Bord na Móna to make a specific commitment to openness and transparency in the planning of future wind farms.

She said: ““What I am encountering on the doorsteps and in my engagement with local communities is a deep anger at being denied access to basic information. The development of tracks and trails is welcome, but their location must be predicated on what is best for West Offaly. If the job creation focus of the Regenerative Tourism and Placemaking Scheme is to be realised, the routes must be designed to bring maximum benefit to our towns and villages and must not be seen as being of secondary importance to secretive plans for wind farms.

It’s about time that Bord na Móna realised that public companies are not entitled to act like corporate overlords. Community engagement must mean more than shiny logos and finely honed soundbites and so far they are simply on the wrong track.

“Bord Na Móna needs to engage with local communities and to treat us with respect. It’s not good enough to develop plans in conjunction with Fáilte Ireland and Offaly County Council or to engage in discussions about routes in a process shrouded in secrecy. We must insist that those who live and work in the towns and villages of West Offaly are given maximum information through every step of the process.

“There is a suspicion that the €30m allocated under the Just Transition Fund, one strand of which is Trail Development on Bord na Mona lands, is not really a priority and that Bord na Mona’s strategy is being shaped by its longer-term objectives in erecting wind farms across the bogs. As a councillor, I will insist that Offaly is not forced to take disproportionate responsibility for ensuring that Ireland meets it’s carbon reduction targets. I will also insist that the legitimate objective of alternative energy provision is not prioritised at the expense of socio-economic, community, biodiversity and amenity development in West Offaly,” she said.