Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

When one is doing a project that impacts on an SAC, one always has to work with the rules, directions, habitats and directives that are there. We have to work within all of that and we have to work within the law. In the Office of Public Works all of the agencies that are involved, such as the National Parks and Wildlife Service, are co-operating very well with us. The intent there is to get works done. We are not being legally challenged but we have to work within the law so we will not be legally challenged and projects will not be held up. It may take longer to get the project to where we need to get it but we will avoid a situation like the one we had in Galway city, where the outer bypass has been delayed ten years because it ended up in the European courts. In the Office of Public Works, we make sure we work with the agencies to get around the issues so we can get a successful conclusion to projects without having a legal challenge.