Plans for a new cycleway connecting Athlone to Galway will be published tomorrow, with four public information events taking place next week.
There has been a mixed response to the project in some areas with some landowners saying there has not been enough consultation.
Galway County Council says there will be full engagement over the coming months to address any ongoing concerns.
The woodlands and waterways around Portumna Forest Park will be part of the Galway-Athlone National Cycleway Project.
The 205-kilometre stretch connects to the existing Dublin-Athlone Greenway, and will create Ireland's longest cycleway and walking route.
It is intended to form part of an international network of long-distance cycling trails in Europe.
The route runs from Athlone Castle along the banks of the Shannon into Portumna and Gort in southeast Galway and on to Kinvara along the Wild Atlantic Way before winding up in Galway city.
Dick Ridge, owner of the Glamping Village in Portumna, has a fleet of bikes at the ready for the predicted increase in visitor numbers.
"We've been trading for over ten years and once we heard about the greenway we saw the great potential ahead.
"We have invested heavily in new stock and we've a wider range of bicycles to suit the slow tourist and the adventurer!
"There's something for everybody, for the kids, the families and for the individual.
"I think once the greenway comes in it's going to be a massive game changer for this whole region.
"It's no surprise we're called 'Ireland's Hidden Heartlands' because we have been hidden. Galway is a massive county and we happen to be in the southeast corner of it which is often quite forgotten.
"But we have the lake, the river, the castle and great amenities.
"It's bringing people which will create employment. People draw people and we need people in this area. During and after Covid there a was huge upsurge in numbers taking up cycling.
"It's easy to do, low cost and convenient. It's become a big part of people's lives and I imagine it will continue."
The cycleway will pass through half public, half privately-owned land.
Amendments have been made to the route in a number of cases to avoid cutting through land.
In most cases the cycleway traverses around the perimeter to avoid severance.
But some farmers in east Galway say there has been little or no consultation with them on the preferred cycleway route.
Jean Molloy is a member of the East Galway Greenway Action Group.
She says the route is too remote and of no benefit to the local community.
"We came up with an alternative an alternative route along the main roads, which would link schools and towns and villages.
"This route is going down towards the bog into remote areas and our concerns are safety and security as well as anti-social behaviour.
"This greenway only favours enthusiastic cyclists. It's a tourist product. It doesn't favour the people who are being asked to give up land. It's of no benefit to us.
"The consultant group are only prepared to meet farmers in small groups or on an individual basis.
"So people need to voice their concern as a group and be listened and to feel that they're being listened to.
"We've raised a lot of questions. We haven't got the answers.
"We will get an email back but it really doesn't answer the questions that we've actually asked."
Farmer Pat Dillon says the future viability of farms in the area is under threat.
"If you're talking about cows, if you're talking about cattle, if you're talking about sheep, it doesn't matter, makes no difference. Even tillage.
"You're supposed to have a fence each side and all the rest of it, and you might have two or three gates to open or whatever. "And then there is the added danger that if this thing goes through, you have no control over the people who travel on it. "They might stay on the Greenway but they might open a gate to see what's there.
"And it has been known that people have gone into fields where there are stock and they startle them. And most certainly if they have a dog with them, they will be chased and the farmer will be held liable.
"I think what's proposed at the moment is inherently wrong. It's not the way that they should go.
"I emphasise that we have nothing whatsoever against cycles at all. All of us here cycled to school from the time we were in second class until the last day we did the Leaving Cert.
"But I'm disturbed by the fact that they can print a map in the morning and talk about it in the afternoon.
"That to me doesn't make a lot of sense. And that to me, does not take account of the landholders' interest, far from it.
"So I think basically it's a public relations exercise that's going on at the moment."
John Henley says he hasn't slept properly for two years
"People talk about angry farmers. Well I make no apologies for being angry about the way we are being treated.
"They treat us with utter contempt and give us no information. There has been no real engagement.
"They wouldn't meet us as a group. It's a divide and conquer attitude.
"Our politicians have let us down. They've gone the other way. "Farming organisations have let us down. They have signed up to a code of practice that says they agree with CPO's if we're not willing to give our land.
"Our livelihoods, our peace of mind is destroyed. We live in a nice, quiet rural area and we're fearful for security and the welfare of our animals. This project is of no benefit to us.
"We're in the minority. We're the little people, the few that are causing the problems.
"But we're the landowners, the registered owners of our farms and our fathers before us. And we feel that our private property rights are being threatened."
Fine Gael TD and keen cyclist Ciaran Cannon says the social and economic benefits of greenways are undeniable, but he accepts that not enough consultation has taken place with key stakeholders.
"We're now approaching a really pivotal moment in the development of the Dublin to Galway Greenway with the publication of the emerging preferred route.
"It is going to be a transformative project for South East Galway which in the past hasn't seen much focus around tourism. "But it's also going to be transformative for the people who live here, providing them with a wonderful amenity.
"If you look at locations like Waterford and Mayo, and Tralee and Limerick right now, the vast majority of people who use greenways in these areas are from the locality and that's often forgotten.
"So it's going to add hugely to the quality of life for people who live around here.
"This is a very large construction project some of which will be going through farmland, and there have been significant concerns expressed by a number of landowners all along the route from Athlone to Galway.
"And I would see this publication of the emerging preferred route next week as an opportunity to reset the relationship between the project team and those landowners to engage in much more meaningful, and I would argue respectful consultation with landowners in particular because they are key stakeholders in this project.
"Ultimately they have to be part of the final design process. And to be frank, that engagement, I would argue hasn't been sufficient to date.
"This is now an opportunity to begin again and to get that engagement right.
"The ongoing consultation process is an opportunity to repair some of the damage that has been done in the past in terms of a lack of proper engagement and I'll be doing what I can to ensure that happens."
Throughout next week there will public information events in Oranmore, Gort, Portumna and Ballinasloe.
Landowners, farmers, cyclists, everybody with an interest is urged to attend and engage with representatives from the cycleway project team.
The full preferred route will be published on the project website tomorrow and can be viewed at GalwayToAthloneCycleway.com
A planning application is expected to be lodged with An Bord Pleanála sometime next year.
