Galway county councillors have given their approval for the local authority to take the lead in progressing the Galway City Outer Bypass warning that the lack of such vital infrastructure was putting the city and county back 50 years in development.
At the Galway County Council meeting on Monday councillors voted in favour of the agreement with Galway City Council pursuant to Section 85 of the Local Government Act 2001 which allows the €300 million transport scheme to progress with one local authority taking over the administrative duties.
Director of services for roads, transportation, marine, and general services, Frank Gilmore told councillors that a new application of a revised scheme will be made, that the entire scheme will be re-examined from East to West, and that the council is in the process of appointing new consultants. He assured councillors that there will be an opportunity to go through an area that is severely constrained and that the scheme will fulfil requirements.
The Galway City Outer Bypass has suffered a number of delays since it was commissioned in 1999. Appeals against the An Bord Pleanála’s decision to approve some of the scheme went to the High Court where it was rejected and then on to the Supreme Court which referred questions to the European Court of Justice which heard the case in September 2012. Delivering its decision in November 2012 the ECJ found that An Bord Pleanála (ABP ) had erred in granting the decision under Article 6(3 ) of the Habitats Directive. The Irish Supreme Court subsequently set the original ABP decision aside in July 2013.
Revised application
Regarding the decision by the ECJ, Mr Gilmore said that the route itself had not been disputed and “what was in contention was the process An Bord Pleanála used in granting permission. It should have been ruled a Section 6(4 ) scheme”.
He added that Galway County Council had been in contact with the National Parks and Wildlife Service and working with them to ensure any scheme would proceed.
A revised application is expected to be submitted to An Bord Pleanála by early 2015 and that it will be put through under Article 6(4 ) of the Habitats Directive which is a fast tracking of major infrastructural projects that are deemed to have imperative reasons of overriding public interest (IROPI ) because of the impact it would have on a protected bog, designated a special area of conservation (SAC ).
“We don’t have a hope of it getting through,” said Cllr Shaun Cunniffe who expressed his serious concern over how the scheme is going to comply with the Habitats Directive. He advised the council executive not to do anything until “we know what areas the scheme will go through”.
Cllr Peter Feeney described the scheme as one of the “most important piece of infrastructure in the city and county” adding that the “social impact alone will be huge”. “We have people sitting in cars every evening because they can’t get out of the city. For their mental health alone we have to pursue this to the absolute end,” said Cllr Feeney who affirmed his belief that the scheme will be successful, noting that Europe have said it will be received favourably under the IROPI process.
“This has to be fast-tracked. It is putting Galway back 50 years in development,” said Cllr Michael Fahy who called on council members to lobby European commissioner Maire Geoghegan Quinn to push forward the scheme as soon as possible.
