CITY TRIBUNE
Green Party talks cast fresh doubts on Galway City Ring Road
The incoming Government may not be in a position to fund the proposed Galway ring road to bypass the city, in addition to alternative transport solutions to traffic.
That’s according to newly-elected Galway senator Pauline O’Reilly said her preference – and that of her Green Party – is to champion new cycling lanes, improved school buses, enhanced commuter rail, and park and ride ahead of a new road.
The fate of the ring road will be decided by An Bord Pleanála, which postponed its oral hearing into the project due to the Covid-19 emergency.
Debate about the merit of the road has raged again recently as Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green Party contemplate a ‘grand coalition’.
Fine Gael senator Seán Kyne and Fianna Fáil Senator Ollie Crowe, both recently confirmed their support for the new road. Others such as Galway West TD Éamon Ó Cuív, also reiterated that the road is needed.
Prior to the pandemic, close on €1 billion was earmarked for a new transport strategy for Galway, which included €650 million for a road and almost €300 million for other measures.
However, Senator O’Reilly has said that traffic solutions other than the road should be prioritised.
“If the road doesn’t go ahead, it’s not going to be because of the Green Party. It’s one billion euro at the end of the day – everyone knows where I stand on it. I think there are other measures that haven’t been put in place for decades in Galway, and those are the key problems,” she said.
Senator O’Reilly said commuter rail for the east of the county, as well as park and ride in Moycullen and Spiddal in the west would give commuters, “a variety of different methods to get around.”
“The statistics show us that only 3% of people want to get from one side of the city and completely go around the city. The majority of people are trying to just get around within the city, so it means everyone is disadvantaged that they have to go through that mess that is the city. Clearing up that mess is what will really result in proper management. 30% of traffic is actually children being brought to school but we’ve no proper bus service for children going to school, and we’ve no cycling lanes. Those are the things I’d be pushing for.
“If you do build that road, it’s out of my hands, but I think finding €1 billion for that, and then also finding the money for everything else, I think any Government would struggle with that, but it’s not for me to make that decision,” said Senator O’Reilly.
She said the Green Party was right to talk with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil about a coalition but she hasn’t ruled out voting against whatever Programme for Government that emerges from those talks.
“I’ve always said I would speak to everybody. I believe in sitting down and talking and getting the best deal for the country. I think it’s the right thing to do; to do what you can to govern and to do it with integrity.
“At the same time, if it’s not going to be any different than just having Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in there by themselves, then there is no point. Then you can actually achieve more by being able to hold them to account if you are outside (Government), which is why a good deal has to be important. It’s hugely important to me – climate is obviously massively important but so are some of our social justice issues,” she said.
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.”
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).
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.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
