Gas pipeline plan sparks protest from city residents

Date Published: 21-Oct-2010

By Denise McNamara

Bord Gáis have agreed to an alternative route for a new gas pipeline to ‘the Jes’ after a petition from residents was presented to City Hall over safety concerns and traffic implications of the work.

The company had announced in a letter to locals last week that they were to begin pipe laying on Raleigh Row and Palmyra Park on October 26, during the mid-term break.

Resident John Finn said householders could not understand why the pipeline did not go the much shorter route from Fr. Griffin Avenue straight down Sea Road and into Coláiste Iognáid.

A petition signed by 30 residents was handed into Galway City Council on Tuesday asking for a rerouting of the pipeline down Sea Road.

Mr Finn said there was serious disquiet about having a potentially explosive gas pipe directly outside their doors, with many of the houses having no street frontage and no back exits.

A council spokesman said they had granted the road opening licence as they were obliged to do once the route was chosen by Bord Gáis and a traffic management system presented.

Bord Gáis Corporate Affairs Manager Kathleen O’Sullivan said following representations by residents to the contractor this week they had now drawn up an alternative map and were hoping to have a new licence granted ahead of the Tuesday start-up.

She said this was the first time they had ever encountered opposition to a pipe route. “This is a very unusual situation for us. Normally we’re getting calls asking why we can’t come up a road as people want to get connected for gas,” she stated.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.