€200m Harbour plan moves a step closer

Date Published: 27-Oct-2009

PLANS for a new €200 million Galway Port – which will see luxury cruise liners docking in the city by 2015 – are continuing to progress after the Minister for Transport voiced his support for the project.

The development of a new Outer Port, which will be carried out in two phases over the next 10 years, received a very positive response from Minister Noel Dempsey when he met with officials from Galway Harbour Company.

And by 2020, the new-look Galway Port will span more than 50 acres and will encompass the complete overhaul of the existing Docks and create a new ‘Cultural Quarter’ for the city.

It is set to provide a massive economic boost for Galway City, as well as creating hundreds of new jobs, as up to 50 cruise ships could dock each year, injecting tens of millions of euro.

Included in the plans for a new ‘Waterfront City’ are a new marina with around 200 berths and a terminal building for cruise liners.

Meanwhile, draft proposals for the redevelopment of the existing Docks and CIE site are being drawn up – these works would be carried out in tandem with the Outer Port plans.

According to Eamon Bradshaw, Chief Executive Officer of Galway Harbour Company, the plans for the new Galway Port will be presented to city councillors next month and will then go on public display.

A full application will then be lodged directly with An Bórd Pleanála next April, because it is regarded as a Strategic Infrastructural Development. Within the past 10 days, the Harbour Company has met
separately with Minister Dempsey and with the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport.

“The Minister’s response was very good, very positive and he was totally supportive. He was very impressed, and it’s magnificent that we have that support and the support of the people of Galway. We don’t underestimate the task ahead, but if the success of the Volvo Ocean Race has proven anything, it is that anything is possible.

Continued on page 3 of The Sentinel.