Bypass not backed by government claims State

Date Published: 03-Jul-2009

THE State has accused An Bord Pleanála of permitting “the deliberate destruction” of priority habitat limestone pavement at the protected Lough Corrib site by granting approval for the €317 million Galway city outer bypass.

In a strong attack on the Board at the Commercial Court yesterday, Garret Simons SC, for the State, argued the Board’s approval is invalid as it breaches the European Habitats Directive requiring member states to protect natural habitats.

Counsel for the Board rejected the attack as “unwarranted” and described as “farcical” claims by the State the Board was trying “to save face”. The State was now making arguments in this case contrary to what it had told the oral hearing into the road, Nuala Butler SC said.

The Minister for Transport can intervene at any time to stop the road given the Minister for Environment’s claim the approval breached EU law but he had not and the Board rejected the State’s reasons for not doing so, counsel added.

If there was a breach of European law, the remedy was in the State’s hands but it had not acted and there was no explanation why “this conundrum” continued to exist.

The clashes happened in…