Mr. Noel Thomas:

I thank the committee. I am the Cathaoirleach of the Connemara municipal district in County Galway. My fellow councillors are Thomas Welby, Eileen Mannion and Tom Healy and our director of services for roads is Mr. Liam Gavin. We are here to discuss the general effects that designated areas are having on the development of infrastructure such as roads.

In Connemara, we have a case study in the N59, the main artery connecting Galway city and Clifden. The majority of the road is of a poor standard and is urgently in need of upgrading. It is considered to be the economic lifeline for Connemara in terms of regional and local development and its upgrading and improvement are key objectives in the county and regional development plans.

The road's upgrade was split into two sections. The first was a 15 km stretch from Maam Cross to Oughterard. This section was granted planning permission pending approval by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, of the method statements submitted by Galway County Council. A method statement is the blueprint showing how construction work will be carried out. In this case, the NPWS wanted to see how Galway County Council would carry out these works without affecting the pearl mussel. The council submitted its method statements more than 18 months ago. For some reason, however, the NPWS has failed to accept them. This is not rocket science. The greatest concern is that silt would contaminate a local waterway. This would not be difficult to address.

The second section was from Maam Cross to Clifden, stretching approximately 30 km. It was refused because some of it would have gone through designated special areas of conservation, SACs. The problem in Connemara is that 58% of our land is designated as an SAC, special protected area or natural heritage area. With such constraints, it is practically impossible to build a new road or upgrade an existing one without impacting on a designated site.

Galway County Council, through its planning proposals for the upgrading of the N59, is offering the solution with the least impact on the designated lands. The impact is minuscule, as almost all of the construction work would take place on line on the existing road and only a small percentage would take place off line for realigning some dangerous corners. This is a national secondary route that is in urgent need of repair. We should not find ourselves in a situation in which such a minor section of designated land can delay a vital project.

There is a similar situation with the R336 in south Connemara. Several routes are proposed for the new road from Barna to Rossaveal, but the most preferred one goes through designated lands. This route would have the least impact on the community, but we cannot even consider it because we know it will not happen, given that it goes through designated lands.

Unfortunately, people come second place to birds, bats, snails and plants when we all could and should share the same space with a little careful planning.

In fact, the upgrading of the N59 could only have a positive effect on the environment. Currently, all the surface residue from tyres, oil and other chemicals flows freely off the surface of the N59 during periods of rain and into the drains that feed into the habitat of this pearl mussel. With the new road, oil and residue catchment lagoons would be built which would stop this from happening, therefore improving the water quality for all aquatic life.

It is not just the environmental aspects that we must take into consideration when trying to build or upgrade roads through designated land. There are also huge time and cost constraints associated with trying to deliver such projects in those areas. There are very large costs in formulating environmental impact statement, EIS, reports and other associated reports. There are also huge extra costs because of the extra time required to complete a project under the environmental constraints attached to a job such as this.

What alternatives do we have? Unfortunately, in Connemara we do not have many alternatives. The one being offered to us at present is that we resurface the existing road. That will only have a limited shelf life, due to its boggy nature. This is basically throwing good money down the drain. There is also the danger of putting a good surface on a road with dangerous corners. Speed will increase and, as a result, the risk of accidents will also increase. There have been too many accidents already on this road, with several of them leading to deaths. All we seek is a safe road that is built for purpose, and this should be well achievable even going through designated land.

We have compiled some recommendations which we have provided to the members of the committee. I will elaborate on them, if possible. The first is that there should be a structured system with a clear timescale put in place for decisions on method statements. In this regard there should be more and better engagement with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, An Taisce and other bodies at pre-planning stage so we can determine before going to the planning stage, and wasting money on EIS reports and so forth, whether the job can proceed. Galway County Council in this case submitted eight method statements to the NPWS 18 months ago and to date only two of those have been agreed. It is unacceptable that the NPWS can be allowed to have a seemingly unlimited amount of time to decide on these method statements. A timeframe must be introduced. We cannot leave it open-ended. That does not work.

Second, a thorough investigation of the NPWS should be carried out to ascertain whether it has the necessary resources and qualifications to conduct the scientific oversight of this project. We see how it has taken so long for the NPWS to respond with its observations on the method statements. That does not make sense. The only conclusion we can arrive at is that perhaps the service does not have the resources, qualifications or staff required, or perhaps there is another reason it has taken so long. Unfortunately, there is also the possibility that it does not wish to see any improvement in Connemara.

Third, a national policy should be introduced for the oversight of any projects seeking planning in designated areas. This is in the interest of fairness and transparency. In other parts of the country there was no problem with infrastructure going through designated sites, but in Connemara we appear to be caught by extreme constraints and we are going nowhere. In calling for a national policy to be introduced, we seek something that is transparent and in which everybody is treated the same, unlike now where one county can get its plans developed without a problem while we do not because we have a different personality, perhaps, who is conducting the business in our county. That is not fair, so we call for a policy to be introduced on that.

The N59 is vital infrastructure for the economic growth of Connemara, so I hope the committee will give serious consideration to the recommendations we have put before it today. I thank the committee for its time.