Petition to prevent cycleway in south Kildare gathers momentum as councils query Waterways Ireland

A petition to prevent the construction of a 'blueway' along the river Barrow through Laois, Carlow and Kildare has garnered more than 5,000 signatures as protests against the planned cycleway gain momentum.

Waterways Ireland have applied to a construct a 115km path that would be 2.5 metres in width and would run alongside the river to allow cyclists a scenic route to ride, but Carlow, Kildare and Laois county councils have all asked for more information on the possible impact that it could have on the ecology of the river.

The main concern is that the width of the path would not accommodate anglers, walkers and cyclists together, while there are also questions surrounding the possibility of flooding, and how it would look following floods.

Carlow County Council have been the most opposed to the track, saying that they have "serious concerns from an ecological, environmental, visual and maintenance perspective about the proposed unbound surface".

47km of the path goes through Kildare, while 52km goes through Carlow and 16km goes through Laois.

The Save The Barrow Line campaign has around 5,000 signatories to the petition, while 84% of respondents to a Waterways Ireland survey said that they were not in favour of the blueway.