Council tells rally organisers to cut their own hedges!

The organisers of a motor rally in County Galway have been hit with the most unusual request from Galway County Council – they have been told to cut more than 20 miles of roadside hedging before the event can take place.

It was a ‘jaw-dropping’ experience for the organisers of the Galway Rally which is due to take place around Ballinasloe at the end of August.

And fears have now been expressed that the event, worth in the region of €250,000 to the town, will not take place because the Galway Motor Club do not have the resources to carry out such works.

It has been described as an unprecedented move by the County Council in demanding that hedges along the route be cut by the organisers. They say that they have never experienced anything like this in the past.

The event is being sponsored by a local hotel in Ballinasloe along with the local Chamber of Commerce who say that a lot of accommodation has already been booked in the town.

The event will bring 1,000 people who are directly involved in the rally along with around 5,000 spectators for the duration of the two day event.

Earlier this week the Chamber of Commerce contacted Councillors to express their frustration at the request that the organisers cut the hedges on a 19 kilometre stretch of the route which means that they will have to cut 38 kilometres of hedges on both sides of the road.

“This is unheard of and has never been imposed by a County Council in any other part of the country before”, commented Donal Scannell, President of Ballinasloe Chamber of Commerce.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.