Work on the long-awaited greenway from Monaghan Town to the Northern Ireland border is due to start at the beginning of November, councillors were told on Monday. The news was confirmed at the morning meeting of the Monaghan Municipal District, Northern Sound reported, with a contractor now in place for the next stretch of the Ulster Canal Greenway.
The new section will extend the existing Monaghan Town greenway, which first opened in 2013, out through the parish of Tyholland towards the border and on towards Armagh. According to the station, the route is due to open before the end of 2027.
"Boots on the ground" in November
Sinn Féin councillor Niamh McCooey, who lives in Tyholland, told Northern Sound that it had taken years of hard work to get the project to construction, and that the idea of a greenway along the line was first put forward around 25 years ago.
"A contractor has now been appointed to start construction on the Monaghan to the border phase of the greenway," she said, adding that work was expected to begin at the start of November with "about a forty week completion time".
"So hopefully by this time next year there will be plenty of feet and cyclists who have been able to use that section," Cllr McCooey said, calling it "a vital piece of infrastructure" for the community.
The name of the contractor and the value of the contract were not given in the report.
What's being built
Monaghan County Council put the job out to tender in June. The public contract notice describes it as the construction of 7.2km of greenway and all ancillary works between Monaghan town and the NI border, with an estimated value of €7.5 million excluding VAT and a contract length of nine months. Tenders closed on 16 July.
The money is in this year's budget. In a written Dáil answer to Cavan-Monaghan TD Matt Carthy on 7 September, the Minister for Transport said Monaghan County Council had been allocated €4.3 million for greenways and active travel in 2026, with €3 million of that set aside for the Monaghan-to-border section.
Years of false starts
The project has been a long time coming. A June 2022 project update said planning approval was already in place for the Monaghan Town-to-border section when Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon council approved the 2.2km stretch on the northern side from the border to Middletown. At the time, the plan was to go to tender that autumn and start work in early 2023.
That timeline slipped. The project team later explained on the Ulster Canal Greenway website that the original funding offer was lost because of delays in decisions by the funders, which made it impossible to finish in time. In August 2025 the team said it hoped to start construction in the first quarter of 2026, subject to TII approvals and funding.
Once the new section is finished, walkers and cyclists will be able to head out from the town towards Tyholland on a traffic-free path, with the Middletown link in Co Armagh next in line.
We'll update this story when the council names the contractor and confirms the start date and any local access arrangements during the works.
