An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-14
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Mark Duffy (FG), Labour Panel

I acknowledge the community in Crossmolina. I attended a public meeting last night that was attended by over 200 people who are very dissatisfied with the proposals by Bord na Móna to build a route around the town of Crossmolina. Crossmolina has a vibrant, active community. There has been a lack of public consultation on this proposal. We all have experience of the different projects that are delivered by State or semi-State bodies. I checked my emails to see that the last correspondence I had with Bord na Móna was in 2024. It has had no engagement with the community. The community is very concerned about the impact of the proposed route and the biodiversity impact it will have. The lack of consultation is totally unacceptable and not fair.
I call on Bord na Móna, which has powered the community down through the years but is at risk of dividing the community now, to step up and engage effectively with the community. It should not be using community volunteers as a front to push its own agenda. Things need to be done in a consultative way and in a process that listens to people in the community and responds appropriately, not by riding roughshod over a community that has been very facilitative of different projects through the years. The community needs to see a return on investment and not be ignored. I would like to see that their asks are facilitated and that there is proper engagement with the community.
The field in question is home to the Crossmolina Agricultural Show, which I was at last year and support every year. It is a brilliant festival and show. It needs to be supported. The volunteers in the community need to be respected and engaged with appropriately, not in a tick-the-box exercise. It is a live planning application. Bord na Móna needs to take a step back and get people on board before it tries to move ahead with these proposals.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:15+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-14