The South Kerry Greenway has got the green light after a Supreme Court decision on Tuesday.
A determination by the Supreme Court, rejecting two applications for leave to appeal in relation to the multi-million development, now means that the greenway project set to transform south Kerry can go ahead.
The decision by the Supreme Court in the applications for leapfrog appeals directly to the highest court in the land was published. It turned down the applications for leave to appeal a decision of the High Court last year, rejecting two challenges to planning approval for the 27-kilometre cycle and pedestrian greenway in south Kerry.
The High Court on that occasion ruled the planning permission was valid.
A three-judge Supreme Court today, in an application brought by environmental activist Peter Sweetman and local farmer James Clifford, ruled no matter of general public importance had been shown to arise in the application for leave "nor indeed have exceptional circumstances warranting a leapfrog appeal been identified."
In a second application to the Supreme Court by the Greenway Information Group and a number of local landowners, the court said it was not satisfied the constitutional criteria for admitting an appeal to the Supreme Court from the High Court had been met.
Public importance
The court said the grounds of appeal fail to disclose any matters that are of general public importance and no case law or other legal argument as to why An Bord Pleanála was wrong to grant a compulsory purchase order was put forward. It said it was simply asserted the decision was wrong and disproportionate, but no reason was given was to why that was so.
The three-judge court, comprising of Mr Justice John McMenamin, Ms Justice Eileen Dunne and Mr Justice Seamus Woulfe, also noted that the application was made in the text of a modular trial and the second module has not yet been heard.
"The court does not, in any case, favour the granting of leave in such circumstances where matter remain to be determined and where the legal and contextual background is not fully available to the court in the High Court judgment," it said.
In July last year the High Court on two separate challenges ruled the greenway permission was valid.
A further module had to be heard in the case, but it will not affect the permission.
Kerry County Council had originally sought permission for a 31.9-kilometre greenway between Glenbeigh and Renard.
An Bord Pleanála granted permission for a 27-kilometre greenway between Glenbeigh to just outside Cahersiveen, to run mainly along the disused route of the Southern and Western Railway. It will include a three-metre-wide paved surface and 122 different types of intersection with other routes.
The permission is subject to several conditions, including an ecological pre-construction survey to check for protected species, including the Kerry slug and lesser horseshoe bat, and for those to be relocated to a similar habitat, subject to a derogation licence where required.
