Taoiseach ‘shocked’ by impact of city bypass plan

The Minister for Transport and the Taoiseach appeared “shocked” that the proposed city bypass was positioned so near the centre and was destroying so many high-calibre homes.

That was the assessment of the residents who met with Minister Pascal Donohoe on Wednesday and after an impromptu meeting with Enda Kenny in the corridors of Leinster House en route.

Spokesman for the Galway N6 Action Group who attended said while they got no commitment from anybody about the road, the four members left upbeat that they had laid out the full picture for both the Minister and the Taoiseach.

“We had a presentation and we had the pictures of houses for demolition. The Minister was quite shocked at the scale and the quality of the properties involved,” recalled Newcastle resident Colman Collins.

“We told him we couldn’t get answers why the old outer bypass was dropped and why we were getting an inner bypass instead of an outer bypass. We spoke about how after 31 years every bus still goes into Eyre Square rather than over the Quinncentenary Bridge.

“We explained that we had to go to Brussels to hear that the outer bypass could still be put back on the table when we were told it couldn’t. He didn’t make any commitments, but he said he would ask questions of Galway County Council and [consultants] Arup about the whole process. His attention never wavered for the entire 40 minutes.”

On bumping into Mr Kenny, he enquired if the delegation were up to talk about the outer bypass, to which they retorted that it was an inner bypass and not an outer road.

“He was shocked by the proximity of the road to the city centre,” recalled Colman.

The Taoiseach remarked that whatever solution was found should be infrastructure to facilitate the future development for the city for the next 50 years.

The reaction of both politicians has buoyed the resolve of the campaigners, who have vowed to oppose the preferred route option even though it was destroying 41 houses instead of 141 properties which some of the six routes had threatened to do at an earlier stage.

“My sense is this deal is not done yet. I’d say to people: do not despair. This emerging route does not have to become ‘the’ route. Lobby your councillors, TDs. Give us pictures of your properties and join us. Do not lie down under this. This is not the best solution – the outer bypass and alternative public transport solutions are.”

The “emerging preferred route corridor” involves a new bridge and viaduct over the river Corrib, two short tunnels at Ballybrit and Coolagh on the Headford road, with the demolition of 41 houses and a further 10 more “seriously affected”.

Fine Gael Deputy Brian Walsh, who organised the meeting, said while he fully supports building a bypass, he still had concerns this preferred route would fall again on environmental grounds as it impacted on the protected limestone pavement.

“I think it’s a much better option than the others put on the table before but I haven’t yet been convinced that the limestone paving issues has been alleviated. I’ll await the final design to see if it’s going to be a water-tight application or will be exposed to years of legal challenges.