John O'Mahony (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When Senator Ó Céidigh came up with this idea, I was glad to support him in any way I could. I bow to all my esteemed colleagues from Galway, but I can provide a little perspective. Despite living 60 miles away, I have had huge involvement in Galway over the last 20 years. I thank the witnesses for their presentations. When I saw them, the first thing I looked for was solutions. I am interested in seeing action. I have seen this issue, and one would not have to be an engineer, a planner or anything else to know that a totally choked bottleneck is imminent. Culturally and historically, Galway is a wonderful city. It is unique for its welcome to tourism. However, the way I would see it, it is operating with its hands tied behind its back when transport and congestion are considered. I refer to the development of the massive potential there. The Connemara area can be opened up to tourism.

I have been at some public meetings in recent years at which people objected to the ring road and proposed that light rail would solve the matter and so on. I think all these solutions are needed, but the time for action has arrived.

I have a few quick questions. I welcome all the presentations. I was very interested in Brian Coll's because he seemed to be thinking on a different level or plane. How would all the other contributors respond to what Brian Coll has said about improving the current bottlenecks? I will not talk about individual roundabouts or anything else - I will leave that to my Galway colleagues - because I have no agenda except to see this sorted out. Medtronic has expanded greatly over the years. Has the issue of traffic congestion hampered this expansion? Would Medtronic be bigger if there were a better traffic flow? In other words, does it make it more difficult to recruit at times? Hypothetically, if Medtronic were to expand or announce 1,000 new jobs in the morning, how would the traffic in Galway affect such a decision? What dynamic would it have? Finally, how do all the council officials see this rolling out? What will Galway city be like in five years' time and ten years' time? Regarding the figure that was mentioned of an increase in population of 40,000, unless something changes radically that will not happen because people just will not be able either to commute to or to live in a city that is hampered as it is at present.