Another legal twist puts the brakes on Ring Road

Separate plans by an environmental group and the Galway Race Committee to take Judicial Reviews into the decision by An Bórd Pleanála to approve planning permission for the Galway City Ring Road could set the entire project back on its heels.

The High Court has already granted the Galway Race Committee permission to proceed with a Judicial Review into An Bord Pleanála’s granting of permission for the €600 million project.

And Friends of the Irish Environment also applied for a Judicial Review in the High Court in Dublin on Monday.

Mr Justice Richard Humphries gave the group permission to make some amendments to the application to judicially review the proposed road, including adding the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government as a Notice Party, and adjourned the matter for a week.

A decision on whether or not the Judicial Review can proceed will be confirmed at a High Court hearing this Monday.

When contacted by The Connacht Tribune, Friends of the Irish Environment said it could not provide details of its reasons and grounds for taking the Judicial Review unless and until it was accepted.

The spokesperson said they were ‘very hopeful’ the review will be granted, and it would then outline its case publicly next week.

If it is granted, it’s likely the earliest date that it could be heard is May, although that could be optimistic due to a backlog of cases during Covid.

The Race Committee’s case is over the construction of the 240 metre tunnel under the racecourse, which would see the loss of its stables.

It alleged that the planning board ‘erred’ in failing to provide appropriate mitigation for the racecourse, in approving the road development.

News that the Friends of the Environment had applied for a Judicial Review has been particularly hotly debated by politicians in Galway.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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