The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) has met with Cork County Council on greenways, saying that trust between landowners and the council has been "badly damaged".

West Cork ICMSA chairperson D.J Keohane said the meeting was "to the point" and "straight talking".

However, Keohane said that trust had broken down between Cork County Council and landowners along the proposed greenway routes, to an extent that "would make it difficult to repair".

"Bluntly, we struggle to see how the proposed greenways can proceed. The trust between the landowners and the council has been badly damaged," Keohane claimed.

He added: "I do believe [the council] have learned lessons about how to work with farmers, but I fear it’s too late. I hope they listen to us and take our points on board."

The Timoleague-based farmer acknowledged that there are a large number of landowners to be consulted, but he criticised the manner in which landowners were engaged with.

"If you can’t visit a farm, look a farmer in the eye, walk their lands with them and get a real feel for the impact a greenway will have, then you are going to have problems," he said.

"That is what should have happened from the start. And it did not," Keohane claimed.

Meanwhile, the chairperson of the ICMSA Farm Business Committee, Pat O’Brien, welcomed the "constructive engagement" with Cork County Council, but said is is "greatly to be regretted that the council had not engaged in face-to-face dialogue with farmers".

O'Brien said the ICMSA is "always opposed to the compulsory purchase of land" for greenways because, the association said, it is "convinced that greenways can be achieved through voluntary access and proper, on-farm and face-to-face consultation".

"I can only imagine how difficult it is for farmers around the country to go about their daily lives wondering whether there will be a greenway on their farm and, if so, where it will go," he said.

The ICMSA farm business chairperson added: "That uncertainty must be extremely stressful. We have enough to be worrying about as farmers."

He said that the ICMSA is not against greenways, but is categorically against the use of CPOs for the purpose of constructing greenways.

"Public lands must be used at every opportunity, and this point was stated to Cork County Council in no uncertain terms," O'Brien added.