CITY TRIBUNE
Angry Council chief slams lack of gratitude on €9m flood money
The City Council’s Chief Executive has said he was “quite appalled” at the negative response from some quarters in the immediate aftermath of an announcement that €9 million would be allocated to Galway’s flood relief scheme.
Brendan McGrath was speaking at a meeting of Galway City Council. Cllr Niall McNelis, who was personally affected when Storm Eleanor hit the city in early January, had earlier described as “serial objectors” those who were quick to denounce the funding announced by Minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran.
Senior Engineer, Uinsinn Finn, had welcomed the €9m, and said that it was right that Galway should be prioritised. A risk assessment had been carried out by the national CFRAM programme (Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management), he said, after which the commitment was given for the process to start.
“It allows us to engage with consultants and get working, ahead of 130 projects to be announced over the year,” he said.
Mr McGrath admitted that he had been quite appalled, after the announcement was made, that people objected to flood relief works for the city.
“The Minister came back to us four weeks later (after his initial visit in January), and made this amazing announcement of a €9m investment,” the Chief Executive said.
“Before a plan was ever made, this was being objected to. Let’s not get a repeat of Storm Eleanor, and the dreadful damage it caused, and the livelihoods destroyed.
“The Minister has come back, and is preparing to give us the money and make it happen. Yes, there are special protection areas, and sensitive environments, but have a little bit of faith in the process.
“We will do the preliminary design, then it will go out to the stakeholders, and we will start discussions, and everybody will get their say.
“The type of solution I saw in Waterford is what I’d wish to see in Galway. As a local authority, we must thank the Minister sincerely, and Sean Canning, his predecessor.
“The CFRAM maps are to be published in the next few weeks. But, instead of saying the first thing is to object, why not come together to make sure that the next Storm Eleanor doesn’t wash away the livelihoods of those affected.”
Mr McGrath agreed with a proposal that a letter be sent to the Minister thanking him for his two recent visits to Galway, and for delivering on his promise of relief. 14 Councillors were in favour, just the Fianna Fáil members (Peter Keane, Ollie and Michael Crowe) voted against it.
Meanwhile, the meeting heard that the Chief Executive had had reason to write to Cllr Padraig Connelly in relation to complaints from staff and unions about comments made in the Council chamber.
The Councillor himself raised the matter, complaining that he had made eight calls to a Director of Services in relation to blocked gullies in the city. He claimed that the letter followed, advising that he should be careful with what he says in the chamber.
Mr McGrath replied by stating that the Councillor should have contacted the relevant staff, rather than troubling a Director of Services about a relatively minor matter.
“This is a workplace for my staff, I have a duty of care for them, they are entitled to be treated with respect – it’s fundamental,” Mr McGrath said.
“I wrote the letter because senior staff have raised issues, as have the wider body of staff, and the unions have raised issues in relation to what’s going on in this chamber.
“Hold us to account, but it’s not personal. We are here to do a job to the best of our ability. These are decent, hard-working citizens, the least they demand is a workplace where they are treated with respect, where Councillors have regard to the code of ethics, SIPA code, standing orders, and how you approach people in this room.
“I will take full responsibility for what happens in this organisation; if it’s wrong, the blame lies with me.”
Cllr Connelly had claimed that his demands that the gullies be cleaned, to relieve flooding, were ignored, despite eight calls to the Director of Services, Tom Connell.
The latter responded to say that the Councillor had contacted him on three occasions over the past two weeks, mentioning just two gullies.
“He was told that there was a programme of works on the gullies, and that those two gullies were part of that programme – you must quote me in a factual manner,” he told Cllr Conneely.
In contrast, some Councillors spoke glowingly of the co-operation received from City Council engineers when problems with gullies were reported.
“Before Christmas, 153 were done over a number of days,” Cllr Donal Lyons said.
“It’s unfair to say things are not being done. Having spoken to the Transport and Infrastructure Department, there is great co-operation from them.”
Senior engineer Uinsinn Finn advised members that all calls received from the public are logged, and a dedicated crew deals with gully cleaning.
“Any representations we get go on the schedule and we tackle them,” he said, but warned that there are sometimes broader issues to blame, such as blocked pipes.
Cllr Declan McDonnell experienced this problem in certain areas in the east of the city, where raw sewerage was coming up from the gullies.
He said that while the Council had responded, it took two or three days to do so.
Mr McGrath asked Councillors to take into account the huge level of rain that had fallen this Winter, along with the age of the infrastructure, and the fact that some drains are combined, which leads gullies to fill up almost as soon as they are emptied.
Cllr Ollie Crowe proposed that the Council should allocate a specialist team from its 200 or so outdoor staff to deal with blocked gullies over a three-month period.
Mr McGrath said that he could not support the proposal as it stood, and asked him to reword it.
He was satisfied with this revised proposal put forward: “The Chief Executive will be asked to undertake and examine a gully team, and bring back proposal to how current issue be addressed.”
Mr Finn said that he will put together a general report on gully cleaning in the city.
“Given the level of complaint here, it’s is obviously an issue, and let’s see how we can improve it,” he said.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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