Last objector withdraws action over Galway city ring road

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The Hard Shoulder with Ciara Kelly and Shane Colman.

Ciara Kelly (1:04)

On Newstalk with Ciara.

Now, the last remaining objector to proposed ring road in Galway City has withdrawn a high course challenge questioning elements of the planned route. This is a major step after plans to construct an 18-kilometre ring road aimed at easing traffic gridlock in Galway have been slow to advance since they were first proposed over a decade ago. Joining us now to discuss this is Sean Canney, Minister of State of the Department of Transport. Good evening, Chief Minister. I presume you welcome this, the final hurdle in the long-awaited ring road being removed?

Sean Canney (1:39)

Absolutely. I think what has happened today has now made sure that the planning cannot be challenged, will not be challenged.

We now are in a position to proceed to procurement and to construction of the project itself. We have designated the project as a critical infrastructure.

That means that a lot of the processes that will happen from here on in will happen concurrently to speed up the process and to get construction going as quickly as possible. Well, it's a game changer for Galway and will help with the traffic congestion that we have had over a long number of years. And there have been a lot of people who have had long suffering waits in traffic right around the city. And now we have certainty in terms of where we go from here.

Ciara Kelly (2:28)

I know you're saying it's as quickly as possible, but this ring road was first proposed about a decade ago. It was given the green light in 2022 and we are now on the cusp of 2027 You'd hardly call that speedy. I mean, why was it allowed to take this long to get to this point?

Sean Canney (2:43)

Well, if you go back in the history of it, first of all, we had a previous iteration of the ring road and that went all the way to Europe and was last in Europe. So since I came into Galway County Council back in 2004, it was an agenda item at that stage, to be quite honest.

I think what we have to do now is we can say, well, what did happen? There was planning issues, there was environmental issues, there was all of that kind of thing going on. But what I am focused on is that we have made this project critical infrastructure. It's one of three we have in the Department of Transport, with Metrolinx and the Cork outer rail project. So basically what we're looking at is to get this project built as quickly as possible and to save some of the time that we've lost in the past, not at all. And might I say just on that, I think it's important also to say that as a minister in the Department of Transport, I want to see all of the home owners and land owners along the route who will be affected by this project to be dealt with now, dealt with now in an efficient way, to make sure that they are dealt with on a one-to-one basis so that they too can move and remove the certainty from their lives which has been hanging over them for the last decade.

Ciara Kelly (4:00)

Does it say though, Minister, that there is something wrong with our planning process? And I'm aware that it's been designated critical infrastructure and that has helped accelerate it. But why has it taken this long for us even to identify or highlight that certain projects are critical infrastructure? And why has these things, as you say, the people have been stuck in gridlock for a decade in Galway, been allowed to languish?