CITY TRIBUNE
Transport Minister commits to light rail study for Galway
Transport Minister Éamon Ryan has given a commitment in the Dáil that a new study will be commissioned to examine the feasibility of introducing a light rail system in Galway City.
In fact, he said the proposed Cross-City Link bus route – linking the western and eastern suburbs through the city centre – was an “obvious” choice for a light rail route.
However, Minister Ryan said that it would be a “difficult decision” requiring the backing of city councillors and local TDs.
He said next year would be the “appropriate time” to revisit the Galway Transport Strategy as it will mark the sixth anniversary of its publication.
The matter was raised in the Dáil last week by Independent Galway West TD Catherine Connolly during a debate on sustainable transport for the city and county.
She said that alongside Park and Ride facilities for the east and west sides of the city, she wanted to see light rail introduced.
Light rail technology has seen significant technological advances over the past decade, and advocates believe any such system for Galway would be very different to Dublin’s Luas, with lighter, eco-friendly and lower-cost rail cars.
Deputy Connolly told the Dáil: “My preference is for light rail but that is just my preference, as it was among the 24,000 people who signed the petition to ask for a feasibility study. It is all tied in together. The city is destined to grow, as the Minister knows, by an additional 40% under the National Development Plan.”
The Transport Minister gave an assurance that a feasibility study would be carried out and this could happen next year.
“I agree about the merits of a feasibility study for light rail in Galway. We will commission and deliver that. It is best done within the review of the Galway transport strategy which is due next year.
“It would also be done then at a time when, all going well, we will know whether we have got the planning permission through for the cross-link [bus] route,” said the Transport Minister.
He said the planned Cross-City Link bus route – which runs from University Road, over Salmon Weir Bridge, Francis Street and Eglinton Street to Eyre Square, Forster Street, College Road to the Dublin Road – would be the “obvious” one to be upgraded to light rail.
The Cross-City Link bus proposal is expected to be submitted to An Bord Pleanála in the second quarter of this year and would take between 12-18 months to construct.
“That would be one obvious route which we could upgrade to the light rail options that a number of people in Galway are now presenting as having real potential,” Minister Ryan said.
“To deliver that requires first and foremost political commitment from the local authority representatives and the Dáil representatives in Galway because it will be a difficult decision.
“It will require the reallocation of space and preference being given to public transport. This would transform the city for the better, but it is never easy.
“It is never easy to change from the current model to a new one but that is the key thing.
“Getting local political buy-in, support and backing for the bus corridor options and for the active travel routes is what we need in Galway more than anything else.
“I think that next year is an appropriate time to look again at the Galway Transport Strategy and review it, given that 2022 will mark its sixth anniversary,” he said.
Deputy Connolly told the Galway City Tribune this week that any data which fed into the transport strategy is now outdated given the country’s climate change commitments and modal changes due to Covid-19.
“Light rail is part of a sustainable solution to Galway’s problems. The city is going to increase in population by 50%, and we should be planning for that,” she said.
In a subsequent written reply to Deputy Connolly, Minister Ryan said: “I agree with the Deputy that given the time that has elapsed since publication of the Galway Transport Strategy, there is a need to review it and take stock of developments since its publication.
“I understand that such a review will commence next year and will allow for consideration again of the issue of light rail but importantly that consideration will take place within the overall framework of the strategy itself,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Gluas committee – which is campaigning for a Very Light Rail (VLR) system for Galway – will hold a webinar on VLR on Tuesday, April 20 at 7pm.
A number of speakers who are experts in the field of VLR will take part. They are from companies involved in such technology and from cities approximately the same size as Galway with similar demographics. A Question and Answer session will complete the free hour-long event.
You can register on Eventbrite.ie.
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.
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