CITY TRIBUNE
City Museum on long list which impressed Tidy Towns judges

Galway City Tribune – The museum, NUI Galway, Spanish Arch, the Cathedral and the colour and variety of shopfronts impressed adjudicators from the Tidy Towns committee enough to award Galway City a silver medal.
The city scored a total of 318 points (out of a potential 470) for 2019, which was up eight points on last year.
The medal was awarded for an area with a population of more than 25,000 people, with Swords in Co Dublin also securing a silver medal.
The Tidy Towns adjudicator said it was “a delight” to visit the city for the first time.
“Your high degree of planning and implementation are acknowledged and accordingly you have raised your marks again this year. Your involvement stretches to all parts of the city and to all communities. You embrace the spirit of the Tidy Towns movement as a community movement aimed at improving the quality of life for your citizens, and at the same time recognising the commercial necessity to generate new and viable projects,” the adjudicator said.
“Your challenge is immense but your achievements are obvious to this adjudicator and our miles of walking during our adjudication gave us a good insight of the challenge and achievements. The traffic was extremely busy and not a day for city driving but our walking was enjoyed and enabled us to traverse the many lanes and side entrances that form part of the adjudication process. There was an air of enjoyment throughout the city which was favoured by a beautiful sunny day.
“Galway City is endowed with a great amount of wonderful building of all vintage. We were impressed with the great numbers of shopfronts and we list the following as an example: Blue Note, Secret Garden, Crane Bar, Colleran and Sons, The Galway Simon Shop, Kai Restaurant, Róisín Dubh, Cupán Tae, Cobwebs, Seodóireacht Cheilteach an Ghladaigh, Músaem Na Cathrach, Riordans, Tig Cóilí, Treasure Chest, Matt O’Flaherty, Brown Thomas, Lazlo Jewellers, A Hartmann and Sons. No doubt the Civic Trust can be of immense help to you in ensuring the good maintenance of these valuable buildings.
“Public buildings are well presented, but for this adjudicator the Galway City Museum stands out. We enjoyed the presence of Padraic O Conaire, but hope the inscription as Gaeilge could be refurbished as it is no longer legible.
“Our visit to the Cathedral was much enjoyed, together with St Ignatius Jesuit Church which we notice is under repair and improvement. We loved the presentation of NUI with its wonderful mature trees and building façade. Our visit To Galway West End and Nuns Island was much enjoyed and the Nuns Island Theatre was well presented. The Railway Station was well presented and the toilets were inspected.”
This is a preview only. To read the rest of the judge’s citation and for details and photos of the Tidy Towns Garden Competition winners, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week’s paper here, or download the app for Android or iPhone.
CITY TRIBUNE
Galway ‘masterplan’ needed to tackle housing and transport crises

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.”
CITY TRIBUNE
Official opening of Galway’s new pedestrian and cycle bridge

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).
CITY TRIBUNE
Minister branded ‘a disgrace’ for reversing land rezoning in Galway City

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.