In theory, public investment of tens of millions of euro over decades should have left the Grand Canal Greenway accessible to wheelchair users, accessible/adapted cycles, parents with children in prams, cargo bikes, bicycle trailers, and touring cyclists with fully loaded panniers. But this is not the case.While the route between Sallins and Dublin City is now open, the newest section includes a restrictive kissing gate barrier that goes against greenway guidelines and disability access laws. The greenway will eventually run from the River Liffey to the River Shannon, with other sections west of Kildare also already opened. Waterways Ireland the all-island body that owns navigable canals on behalf of the State has confirmed that it owns the land on which a restrictive barrier was installed along the Grand Canal Greenway. It also confirmed that it owns the land where McEvoys public house operates from at Hazelhatch Bridge.2024202320212019IMAGE: Google Maps of the bridge and towpath route over the years.The Part 8 planning drawings (see below) for the route built by South Dublin County Council show one access control point behind McEvoys. It shows a clear route for access from that barrier to Hazelhatch Bridge in front of the pub, but authorities seem to be now implying that the publicly-owned historic canal towpath route is mainly a beer garden.The greenway was given Part 9 planning permission by councillors in 2019, when there was still a clear path alongside the pub to the public road. The beer garden was a modest affair pre-Covid, but it is understood that its popularity grew during the pandemic, along with the general increase in popularity of outdoor dining and drinking. Google Street View shows that in the years following the pandemic, the garden furniture also bloomed, with more and more tables, as well as an assortment of beer barrels with flowers in them, and rain/sun umbrellas. IMAGE: A section of the Part 8 planning drawings.A second access control the restrictive kissing gate was installed just before the official launch of the route last month. The kissing gate is located between the standard chicane gate barrier and the pub.A possible future greenway bridge for people walking and cycling is indicated on the planning drawings the main idea of the bridge is so that greenway users would not have to cross the narrow, humped road bridge to continue along the greenway. The bridge would require a separate planning application and would take years to put in place.On the day of the launch, a joint press release was issued with quotes praising the accessibility of the route from Minister for Transport Darragh OBrien, the Mayor of South Dublin, Cllr Pamela Kearns, and Lorcan OConnor, CEO of Transport Infrastructure Ireland.Minister OBrien said: The improvement works carried out on this 5km section means that the greenway is now designed and developed to cater for wheelchair users, children in buggies as well as people on all types of bicycles. But this is not the case.The only official to be quoted without mentioning accessibility was John McDonagh, CEO of Waterways Ireland.Responding to a series of questions from this website, a spokesperson for Waterways Ireland defended the kissing gate and called it an interim boundary between the end of the Greenway and the adjoining property.A new section of the Grand Canal Greenway opened on 16th March 2026 between the 12th Lock of the Grand Canal and just to the east of Hazelhatch, a distance of 4.4km. It was developed by South Dublin County Council (SDCC), under licence from Waterways Ireland as landowner. The interim boundary between the end of the Greenway and the adjoining property, McEvoys pub, is marked by a kissing gate to safely manage the interface, the spokesperson said.They said: The kissing gate was put in place temporarily for health and safety reasons, to reduce the pace of travel through the area at McEvoys pub, which operates on land owned by Waterways Ireland near Hazelhatch Bridge.Waterways Ireland said that the kissing gate is a public safety measure of last resort which was installed following exploration of a number of access options, necessitated by compliance issues with signage requesting cyclists to dismount between the public road and the greenway access point.Planning documents for the greenway, as available online, include no indication that cyclist dismount signs would be installed at the greenway access point to the public road at Hazelhatch Bridge. At the bridge, the greenway continues onto Sallins on a route built in recent years.Planning documents imply the opposite of any dismounting restriction or restrictive barrier and outline Much like the Minister for Transport did that Hazelhatch Bridge to 12th Lock Grand Canal Greenway will also be designed and developed to cater for wheelchair users, children in buggies as well as people on all types of bicycles.A spokesperson for Waterways Ireland said: While the current situation is acknowledged not to be optimal, it does facilitate access; South Dublin County Council intends to carry out further works to improve access between the existing Greenway east of Hazelhatch and the public road (R405 Hazelhatch Road). At that stage, the need for the kissing gate will be reassessed; Waterways Ireland appreciates greenway users patience and cooperation in the meantime.Waterways Irelands draft Disability Action Plan 2023-2025 includes the commitment to Removal of any structural barriers which limit physical access. Asked, besides greenway projects led by local authorities, how many barriers Waterways Ireland has removed on the canals in the Republic of Ireland between 2023 and 2025, the authority did not provide a clear figure. Instead, it seemed to indicate that it had abandoned the clear-cut commitment to accessibility. A spokesperson said: Greenways developed on Waterways Ireland property are undertaken by local authorities on a phased basis under licence of easement. Decisions regarding [the] installation or removal of signage and gates at the boundary between developed sections and undeveloped sections are made by the relevant Local Authority in partnership with Waterways Ireland and are based on user safety. A number of kissing gates have been removed from Greenways on Waterways Ireland property in recent years.The 2023-2025 action plan has been superseded by Waterways Irelands Equality and Disability Action Plans 2026-2028 a document that does not have any commitment to removing barriers despite the previous commitment being unfulfilled. A Waterways Ireland spokesperson added: The Equality and Disability Action Plans are a statement of Waterways Irelands commitment to fulfil our statutory obligations in compliance with Section 49A of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended by the Disability Discrimination (NI) Order 2006) in Northern Ireland and the Disability Act 2005 in Ireland. Waterways Ireland implements these plans in accordance with its obligations under all relevant legislation, including Health & Safety legislation.As reported last month, in a statement to IrishCycle.com, South Dublin County Council said: SDCC is continuing to work with the landowner on delivering the next phase of the greenway, and the present access arrangement is an interim measure to manage the interface between the public greenway and the private licensed premises.A council spokesperson added: National guidance allows such temporary treatments where routes are delivered in phases and where public safety needs to be managed during transition stages.