Brian Walsh (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this item and the Minister for attending to hear my contribution. I have been a public representative for ten years and since my time on Galway City Council I have been an ardent advocate of the need for an outer bypass in Galway. The Minister recently visited our city and saw the traffic gridlock we Galwegians experience on a daily basis. Journeys that should take 15 minutes, such as travelling from the east to the west of the city and on to Connemara, take an hour and a half or two hours. The Minister’s predecessor, Deputy Varadkar, carried out an assessment of all the roads infrastructure projects proposed and the Galway city outer bypass was ranked as the top road project in terms of cost-benefit ratio. The need for a city outer bypass is well established and I support it.

Planning permission was granted for the original part of a route and an appellant brought it to the High Court and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court referred it to the European Court of Justice, ECJ, because the appellant argued that it compromised the integrity of an SAC. After receiving the ECJ’s response, the Supreme Court refused permission. Like so many, I awaited the publication of the new proposed route with great hope that it would, finally, address traffic gridlock in our city and lift constraints that are hampering business and economic development in our city and the quality of life of its residents. However, the routes chosen and put before the public are complete and utter madness. They are not feasible alternatives to the original plan for an outer bypass, for a number of legitimate reasons.

The first reason is the cost. The original budget, prepared at the height of the economic boom, was approximately €320 million. The new proposal will cost up to €750 million. It will result in the destruction of up to 130 homes in the city, family homes, some of which are among the most valuable properties in the city, hence the increased cost. It will cause the destruction of a number of businesses in the city and will have a very negative impact on some institutions in the city such as NUI Galway as new buildings recently developed there would have to be demolished. Most significantly, it will have a very negative impact on the world famous Galway racing festival. It is an area in which the Minister has an interest, with his tourism hat on. The Galway Races are the jewel in the crown of the Galway tourism product and digging up the racecourse, as required under these plans, would be akin to draining the canals of Venice or boarding up the Colosseum in Rome for a week during the peak tourism season. The plans for this project were supposed to enhance Galway's economic growth, not cripple it. The Galway Races are worth more than €60 million per year to the local economy and these plans would have a detrimental effect on it.

The refusal of permission for the original route was due to the presence of bog cotton and the impact the road would have on a small area of limestone paving. While we all have great respect and affection for our environmental heritage, I have a problem with the prioritisation of bog cotton or limestone paving over people's lives. We must put people before plants and paving. The elephant in the room is that the new routes also go through ecological sites of international importance. If we pursue this course of action, there is no doubt that it will come before the courts again. The plan must be halted and I ask the Minister to use his offices to review the proposals before the public for their consideration and come back with something that will deliver the much needed infrastructure sooner and at a fraction of the cost envisaged.

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