Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome confirmation that the official opening of the Moycullen bypass will take place on 11 December.It will be performed by the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, and the cathaoirleach of Galway County Council, Liam Carroll. I thank and acknowledge all the work by Transport Infrastructure Ireland and Galway County Council over the years. It is a project that has been talked about for more than 40 years. It will be a transformative occasion when the official opening takes place and Moycullen will become a safer, more pedestrian- cyclist-, and business-friendly location. It will allow people who want to do business in Moycullen to go in and it will remove traffic that does not need to be there as well as the hundreds of heavy goods vehicles that will now be able to bypass the village.

On that point, I welcome the fast-tracking of the Adare bypass and the announcement of that decision yesterday by the Minister, Deputy Ryan. I acknowledge also all the work of local politicians in the Limerick area on this very important decision to fast-track this, albeit for the reason of the Ryder Cup. The Ryder Cup is great and it is important it takes place but people in Galway are wondering if the Minister, Deputy Ryan, could put as much attention and support into the Galway city ring road, which he has been adamant should not proceed. I believe roadblocks have been put in place on this project over a long number of years. As I have said in this House when I was taking the Order of Business a number of year ago, if the original proposal for a Galway city outer bypass had been built all those years ago, it would have allowed the transformative changes we all want to see within Galway city, which cannot take place because of the traffic congestion there. I regret that and hope the Minister, having supported the fast-tracking of the Adare bypass, could throw his weight behind the Galway city ring road, get that project built and get the transformation regarding public transport within the city that is needed.