Galway Ring Road cannot proceed despite fresh review by An Bord Pleanála, says minister

The proposed Galway Ring Road cannot go ahead despite the plans getting a second look by An Bord Pleanála, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has said.

The €600m project appeared to be sunk last year after the planning body conceded in a High Court challenge that it failed to take into account the national Climate Action Plan when granting permission for it.

The High Court this week formally quashed the permission but has allowed the project to be returned to An Bord Pleanála for fresh consideration and Galway city and county councils have said they are confident it will be approved again.

However Mr Ryan, who is also Environment Minister, said the plan could not proceed.

“It vital that all our transport plans deliver the 50pc reduction in emissions we need this decade and go net zero in three [decades],” he said.

“The National Transport Authority, the local authority and our department are going to have to look at a new transport strategy for Galway that meets that climate target.

“You can’t just go ahead and build roads that have an induced traffic system that means you can’t meet the climate targets.

“So the plans for Galway are going to have to change. The exact elements of that, the combination of new public transport and other infrastructure, will be the outcome of that process.

“But the existing plans, the existing way of doing things is not going to progress. You have to heed what the law says – you put climate at the centre of everything we do.”

The minister made his remarks while announcing the latest round of annual funding for active travel projects which will see €290m allocated to walking and cycling facilities in almost 1,200 projects around the country this year.

Almost 1,000km of new and improved walking and cycling infrastructure is to be developed with cycle lanes, widened footpaths, pedestrian crossings, dedicated active travel bridges and ‘Safe Routes to School’ projects.

Dublin gets the largest share of the funding, with €60m going to projects in the city and a further €64m to the county.

The funding stems from an election promise the Green Party made to invest a million euro a day in walking and cycling infrastructure while in government.

There have been criticisms that local authorities had failed to spend the money but Mr Ryan said everything allocated to date had now been spent.

He said it had taken two years for councils and the National Transport Authority to staff up and prepare projects but they were now making good progress, he said.

“That's what is going to be different this year. People are going to see a lot of the money that was spent on design work is going to go into building work this year.”

Some of the large-scale projects receiving funding include the Dodder Greenway between Herbert Park and Donnybrook Road in Dublin, a new cycle and pedestrian bridge over the N40 in Cork to Tramore Valley Park, and the extension of the Waterford Greenway from Bilberry into the centre of the city.