Residents to protest at City Hall over Lough Atalia

Residents from the Lough Atalia area will stage a protest this afternoon outside City Hall over the Council’s failure to consult with them over the one-way system.

They say there was “palpable anger” at a residents’ meeting in the Sportsground last Thursday over the Council’s decision to extend the traffic system for a period of three weeks.

Lough Atalia Development Association – which represents College Road, Lough Atalia and Forster Street – will protest at 3.30pm today (Monday), ahead of this afternoon’s local authority meeting.

A spokesperson said: “There was palpable anger from residents regarding the decision of Galway City Council to extend the one-way traffic system for a further three weeks.

“This was done without any consultation with residents. Residents had agreed reluctantly to the one way system to facilitate the engineering work at Lough Atalia Bridge.

“The experience of residents during this period has been very bad and while they accepted it for the duration of the engineering work at Lough Atalia bridge, their patience has now run out.

“The public meeting heard many stories of excessive speed, dangerous events, cars zigzagging at speed, loss of bus routes and visible danger to the elderly and young. There was also concern of the ability of the emergency services to respond to emergencies. In a recent fire on College Road, the whole area was in chaos as Gardai were forced to divert traffic into the Sportsground,” the spokesperson said.

The meeting also heard of the effect of the one-way system on pedestrians and cyclists.

“Cyclists are being forced onto the footpaths especially on Lough Atalia Road, causing further danger to pedestrians. Families are experiencing great danger in bringing elderly parents to their homes as car doors must now open out onto the busy traffic lanes.

“Previously, older or infirm residents were able to step from the car directly onto the footpath. This is no longer possible.

“Many other stories described fear and concern among residents. Many residents called on city councillors to support the local community. The view was that the one-way traffic arrangement in the area is destroying a living community. There was much anger at the complete lack of consultation with the residents,” the spokesperson said.