Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The good news from Galway is that unemployment levels are dropping and more people are returning to work, as is the case in most parts of the country. The bad news for Galway is that this also means more cars on the road and that a city that is famous worldwide for all sorts of good reasons is becoming known more and more for its appalling traffic problems.

The Galway city outer bypass or ring road will not be opened until at least 2026. That is assuming that it gets the necessary go ahead. The history of the project, which has been stuck in the pipeline for two decades, would not fill one with confidence on that score. What are we going to do in the meantime? Is the city expected to come to a standstill for the next ten years, with everyone sitting in his or her car while Galway becomes one giant car park? Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford have bypasses. Galway is officially the third largest city in the country, yet there is still no bypass in sight and traffic volumes are growing by the month.

In that regard, people like Mr. John Gormley, the former Green Party Minister for the environment, has much to answer for because, but for their objections over everything from snails to bog cotton and limestone pavements, the road, which would have been a vital addition to the infrastructure of a vibrant and growing city, would have been built years ago.

The current plan, involving a bypass, a ring road stretching from the eastern approaches to the west of the city, and the building of a fifth bridge over the River Corrib is going through a process at the moment that will take time. Currently, submissions are being invited from the public on the proposed route and the design will not be finished until the end of January. Then it has to go through the entire planning process and there is still no guarantee that at the end of the day we will have a road that will solve Galway's woeful traffic problems. We had plans before that have fallen at various hurdles.

We hear every morning on the radio about the traffic congestion in Claregalway and Parkmore. The only solution to the problem in Claregalway is an inner relief road as the new M17-M18 will not solve the traffic problems in the village, given that a new secondary school has now opened with more than 1,000 students enrolled. The situation in Parkmore is even more serious, with approximately 10,000 people travelling daily to and from work on a single road. Employers concerned about the continuing effects of traffic congestion on productivity, future expansion plans and job security.

What is plan B for Galway? We cannot sit on this process for another decade. Could we put a task force in place to find a solution? Where large factories close in major towns, a task force is put in place to try to find a replacement. Galway must now have the same urgent response. We are losing industry in Galway right now because of the city's traffic problems. It is a fact that we are losing employment and investment. I know of a number of companies that looked at Galway in recent months and they decided not to locate there due to the traffic problems. Will the Taoiseach give a commitment that funding will be provided this year to try to find a quick-fix solution to the traffic problems in Galway city and county?

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