Saucer of milk for Seán as bypass claws are out

Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley

The bypass debate has divided public opinion. Polarised it, even. And politically it has exposed a clear chasm among the two sitting Fine Gael TDs in Galway West, Brian Walsh and Seán Kyne.

Though both were in favour of the old bypass, Walsh was the most vocal.

But Brianeen has gone full-circle round the bypass roundabout and has come out strongly against the new six corridor routes being considered.

Seán, on the other hand, has come out in favour of the process to choose the new route, though he’s careful not to publicly declare which route he favours.

The split between the two hadn’t really been addressed publicly, until RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland recently.

Séan, without naming names, had a right-go at Brianeen, when he expressed “surprise” that some politicians who previously backed a bypass were no longer in favour of it.

“Many people who had been cheerleaders for a bypass in the past are now sitting on the fence or are in opposition to the process that has been laid out. They are stating that we need to go back to the drawing board but this is back to the drawing board, we are back at the drawing board.”

Saucer of milk for one, please.

Bypass through  bird’s nest

One politician you’d almost forgive for being a ‘bypass hypocrite’ is Fianna Fáil City Councillor Michael John Crowe. MJ was always in favour of a bypass. He still is – even though he is one of 300 homeowners who got a letter to say that his home in Coolagh lies in the path of a road corridor.

You’d forgive him for now changing tack and going against the bypass but in fairness, he’s not wavered.

“I am supportive of a bypass but in a few years a juggernaut could be coming through my kitchen,” he said at a Council meeting.

He is also quoted in the Irish Times as saying: “I am still totally in support of this project. Galway had been stagnant up ’til now and this bypass is badly needed.”

MJ is no NIMBY.

Labour’s flip-flop road-block

The Labour Party has changed its mind on the bypass more often than most of its Oireachtas representatives change their underpants.

You will recall that historically, during the ‘boom’ years, Labour locally was against the Galway City Outer Bypass. Or at least some of them were; others weren’t so sure. But the official line was that Labour opposed the bypass.

That was at a time when it wasn’t necessarily popular to do so.

Then traffic congestion grew worse and as the election drew closer, and voters demanded a solution, Labour did an about-turn, and – against its natural instinct – backed the bypass.

It did so sheepishly, half-heartedly, just so the pro-bypass lobby and politicians could no-longer use Labour’s opposition to the road as a stick to beat it.

And here we are again now, and Labour is behind the curve, reacting rather than leading public opinion.

Comrades, we’re led to believe, are now against the bypass again. Or are they? Labour has been awfully quiet on the issue of late – taking their time to stick their fingers up into the air to see which way the wind of public opinion is blowing.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.