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Day one of oral hearing over Westside retail development concludes
Galway Bay fm newsroom – The Rahoon residents association is now making its submission to the Oral hearing in respect of a proposed retail development at Westside in the city.
Chartered town planner Brendan McGrath says grounds for appeal include that the project is not in accordance with the city development plan.
Applicant T O’ Higgins and company limited and several third parties are appealing the decision of the city council to grant permission with conditions for the retail development opposite Westside Shopping centre on the Seamus Quirke road.
Inspector Derek Daly has been appointed by An Bord Pleanala to preside over an oral hearing which got underway at the Westwood house hotel in Newcastle this morning.
This afternoon’s submissions focused on the retail element of the proposed multi million euro retail development.
James Barnes on behalf of RGDATA says its principal concerns include the inappropriate out of town location and the impact on the vitality of the existing town centre.
The group, which represent Ireland’s family owned grocery stores, forecourt stores and supermarkets, claim the overall impact of an oversized supermarket in this location would have a devastating impact on the existing town centre.
Meanwhile, Dublin based planning and development consultancy John Spain associates say the development is contrary to the Galway city development plan and retail hierarchy.
This evening, Brendan McGrath is speaking on behalf of the Rahoon residents association.
He says the group is citing four grounds of appeal which includes the proposal is contrary to the policy of the city development plan to protect the residential amenity of established residential suburbs in Galway.
The oral hearing continues tomorrow.
The death has occurred of the former Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora Martin Drennan, six years after he announced his retirement on health grounds. He was aged 78.
The Galway Diocesan Office confirmed the death this (Saturday) afternoon of the Bishop and Apostolic Administrator Emeritus, who oversaw the Diocese for eleven years.
Born on January 2, 1944 in Piltown, County Kilkenny, he studied for the priesthood at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, from where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1968. His brother Michael is also a priest.
Following his ordination, he continued his studies in Rome where he was awarded a Licentiate in both sacred theology and sacred scripture. He returned to Rome in 1980 to become spiritual director at the Pontifical Irish College for the next five years.
He became a lecturer in sacred scripture at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he continued to teach until his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin in 1997 with responsibility for East Wicklow and South Dublin.
Following the retirement of Bishop James McLoughlin, Bishop Drennan was appointed Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora and he was installed on July 3, 2005 in Galway Cathedral.
Outgoing Cllr Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) is on course to retain her City Council seat – and top the poll in City East.
With 33% of the boxes tallied, Cllr O’Flaherty is polling strongly, particularly in Renmore.
Michael John Crowe is ahead of his running mate Alan Cheevers for the Fianna Fáil vote, according to the early figures, although that could change when Doughiska and Roscam boxes are opened.
The Green Party’s Claire Hillery is on about 7%, with Fine Gael on 10% and Sinn Fein on 5%.
The opening of boxes for the local elections began at 9am this morning in Leisureland when the tallymen (and women) kicked into gear.
As regards the Galway County Council elections, the smaller areas are being opened first which means that the four-seater Connemara North boxes will be first in the pecking order.
It will be followed by Gort-Kinvara (5 seats), Connemara South (5 seats), Athenry-Oranmore (7 seats), Ballinasloe (6 seats), Loughrea (5 seats) and finally Tuam (7 seats).
The boxes in these areas will be opened and tallied in that particular order before being transferred to the Galway Lawn Tennis Club on Threadneedle Road where the counting will commence around mid-morning.
That is when the fun will really begin – although the tallies should give a good indication as to where most of the seats are destined.
As regards the city, the Galway City East boxes were opened first, followed by Galway City Central and finally Galway City West. These votes will be transferred to the Westside Centre by around 11am for counting.
There are 39 seats on Galway County Council to be filled with 18 on Galway City Council. The City Council count is expected to conclude on Saturday night but the County Council count – with seven electoral areas to be filled – could well go into Monday.
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