€400,000 on the Cashel–Cahir greenway with no route and no design

Council watch · spending · source-led record

What was said, and by whom

At the January 2026 meeting of the Tipperary–Cahir–Cashel Municipal District, Councillor Declan Burgess (Fine Gael; Cashel–Tipperary LEA per the Council Watch roster) raised the Cashel-to-Cahir greenway. His words, as reported:

"Over €400,000 now has been given to the greenway project from Cahir to Cashel, and we still haven't got a design, we still haven't got a route selected, and there's been no further consultations."

The reply came from James Swords, District Engineer:

"I'll get them to do a report on the Cashel to Cahir greenway and submit it to the members here for consideration."

What the project is

The Cashel–Cahir greenway is a proposed walking and cycling route linking the two towns and connecting sites including the Rock of Cashel and Cahir Castle. It was first proposed in 2023. Reports state the funding came from Active Travel allocations over several years and that, as of January 2026, the project remained at the concept and feasibility-study stage. The reports do not itemise what the €400,000 was spent on.

What this record establishes, and what it does not

It establishes, from a councillor's statement on the record and the District Engineer's reply, that more than €400,000 had been allocated to the greenway with no route selected and no design produced by January 2026.
It does not establish who received the €400,000, what each study cost, or whether the spend was improper. Feasibility work is a normal stage of a greenway scheme; the record here is that three years and €400,000 in, that stage was not complete.
Active Travel funding is a separate national funding stream from bridge-rehabilitation funding. This page does not claim that greenway money could or should have been spent on any bridge.

The same district

The greenway and Killardry Bridge sit in the same municipal district and come before the same members and the same District Engineer. The Council's own written decision of 18 February 2026 states that the repair works listed in the 2014 principal inspection of Killardry Bridge "have not been carried out to date" — the Council's internal-review decision. That 2014 report costed the parapet repointing and repair at €250 and €200, scheduled for 2017 — the 2014 Eirspan inspection.

The family's position: Bronagh's family reads these two dated records together as a question about the district's attention, not its accounts: greenway funding and bridge funding are separate streams, and the family does not say one should have paid for the other. What it asks is how the same district, the same members and the same District Engineer could see a greenway reach €400,000 of spend by January 2026 while a parapet repair the Council's own 2014 inspection costed at €450 had, on the Council's own 18 February 2026 account, still not been carried out. As Bronagh's parents said on record: "One small cone and she'd be with us" (Tipperary Live, October 2025). That is presented as the family's position, not as a finding that any funding was misdirected or that any person caused Bronagh's death.

Sources

Irish Independent, "Questions raised after €400,000 spent on greenway project in Tipperary with no plans produced", 28 January 2026 — https://www.independent.ie/county/tipperary/questions-raised-after-400000-spent-on-greenway-project-in-tipperary-with-no-plans-produced/a/126857460.html
Travel Extra, "Questions raised over €400,000 spent on Tipperary Greenway Project with no plan" — https://www.travelextra.ie/questions-raised-over-e400000-spent-on-tipperary-greenway-project/
Ireland Live, "REVEALED: Councillor questions €400,000 spent on greenway without any plans shown" — https://www.ireland-live.ie/news/revealed-councillor-questions-eu400000-spent-on-greenway-without-any-plans-shown-6641533
Tipperary County Council, FOI internal-review decision, 18 February 2026 (held on file; published readback linked above)
South Tipperary Eirspan Principal Inspection Report TS-LP3101-001.00, 4 March 2014 (held on file; published readback linked above)

Factual record. No finding of causation or responsibility is made here.

District	2022 population	Fatal-collision records	People killed	People killed per 100,000 per year
Clonmel	25,003	10	13	8.67
Tipperary–Cahir–Cashel	44,532	21	23	8.61
Carrick-on-Suir	20,191	7	7	5.78
Nenagh	40,879	11	12	4.89
Thurles	37,290	8	8	3.58

Year	Tipperary–Cahir–Cashel	County Tipperary	State
2018	6	10	134
2019	4	13	140
2020	1	7	141
2021	3	10	132
2022	3	7	152
2023	6	16	179

Rank	County	2022 population	People killed	Fatal-collision records	People killed per 100,000 per year
1	Monaghan	65,288	25	—	6.38
2	Tipperary	167,895	63	—	6.25
3	Donegal	167,084	53	—	5.29
4	Roscommon	70,259	22	—	5.22
5	Louth	139,703	41	—	4.89
6	Cavan	81,704	23	—	4.69
7	Mayo	137,970	38	—	4.59
8	Offaly	83,150	22	—	4.41
9	Kerry	156,458	41	—	4.37
10	Kilkenny	104,160	27	—	4.32
11	Leitrim	35,199	9	—	4.26
12	Longford	46,751	11	—	3.92
13	Westmeath	96,221	22	—	3.81
14	Clare	127,938	29	—	3.78
15	Meath	220,826	49	—	3.70
16	Sligo	70,198	15	—	3.56
17	Limerick	209,536	44	—	3.50
18	Wexford	163,919	34	—	3.46
19	Galway	277,737	49	—	2.94
20	Carlow	61,968	9	—	2.42
21	Cork	584,156	83	—	2.37
22	Laois	91,877	12	—	2.18
23	Waterford	127,363	15	—	1.96
24	Wicklow	155,851	18	—	1.92
25	Kildare	247,774	25	—	1.68
26	Dublin	1,458,154	99	—	1.13