`Disgust' at lack of public consultation on by-pass

Galway residents opposed to a £113 million outer bypass for the city have expressed "disgust" at the lack of public consultation before the scheme was given local authority approval.

The Labour TD for Galway West, Mr Michael D. Higgins, criticised the haste with which the project was approved over a week ago by Galway Corporation.

The scheme, most of which will qualify for EU funding under the National Development Plan, involves a new bridge over the Corrib, and part of the route is through land designated as a Special Area of Conservation under the EU Habitats Directive.

Scheduled for 2006, it comprises 18.6 kilometres of dual carriageway and 4.8 kilometres of single carriageway, stretching from the east of the city and running into a regional road (R336) linking to the Spiddal-Galway "Cois Fharraige" road.

The route will have a "devastating effect" on the Gaeltacht village of Menlo, according to critics, and questionnaires distributed to Menlo residents were returned with a "100 per cent vote against". Seven residential properties have been earmarked for demolition. Three are occupied.

The plan was approved by nine votes to five, with Fine Gael and Labour councillors seeking a deferment and will require an environmental impact statement.

Mr Higgins and the two Labour councillors on Galway Corporation, Ald Catherine Connolly and Cllr Tom Cox, pledged support for the combined residents' group formed to fight it, known as Hands Across the Corrib. Mr Niall O Brolchain of the Galway Environmental Alliance, a Green Party candidate for the next election, is also backing the group. At a press conference yesterday the group called for a transport initiative which would manage the traffic problem.

An outer bypass would only contribute to gridlock, it said, as most commuter traffic is directed towards the city centre. It called on residents to make their views known during the planning stages.

Ms Connolly said she understood the local authority was due to vote on the Buchanan study shortly, but it should have been taken before this. The study was first presented to the local authority in 1999. Cllr Costello did not think the EU would "look too kindly" on a project which crossed an SAC.

An Taisce's Galway branch also questioned the local authority's decision to vote on the road plan before approving the Land Use and Transport Study prepared for the city by Colin Buchanan and Partners.

Mr Derrick Hambleton, the branch chairman, quoted from the Buchanan study which said "a massive road building programme would inevitably destroy much of the city's fabric" and would be "highly unlikely to achieve its objective of eliminating traffic congestion".

Commenting after the HAC press conference, Mr John Tierney, Galway's city manager, said the preferred route had been on public display since last September and this gave adequate time for consultation.