Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the announcement made this morning regarding the additional funding for Connacht Rugby to develop the sports ground and of the €420,000 for the Renville sports project.

Some 54 homeowners are caught up in all this. They are technically prisoners in their homes. They have been waiting for years for a decision to be made on whether this project will go ahead. This is wrong. It is unfair to these people, many of whom are elderly. They are stressed about this. The people of Galway are asking how it is that so many other bypasses and road projects have been designed, funded and completed during that time and they still do not have planning permission for a ring road in Galway.

I am not asking the Taoiseach to interfere in the planning process. I know he cannot. I am only asking him to contact An Bord Pleanála to expedite the decision for the people of Galway. If the decision is that the road will go ahead, we need to build it immediately. This cannot be allowed to drag on any longer. The people of Galway will not take it. Galway city is practically a car park now morning, noon and night. People are getting extremely frustrated. I ask the Taoiseach, as Head of Government, to get involved, lead this and get this much-needed project through the planning process and built.

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