This is the expectation of Roads and Infrastructure Minister of State, Sean Canney, who welcomed a €2.4m funding allocation for environmental reports and consultancy services necessary to advance the project to the next stage of planning this week.
An Bord Pleanála is to reconsider an application to approve the Galway City Ring Road after the High Court quashed its initial approval in 2023. The board has requested an updated environmental impact and Natura Impact Statement from Galway County Council as part of its Further Information request.
It is understood most reports expected to be submitted by Galway’s city and county councils are ready, but delays in translating documents into Irish has slowed the process.
“If it gets the proper, positive outcome from ABP, and if no one challenges that, the next step is to go for full design and construction, and we would expect to be on the ground by 2028,” Minister Canney said, speaking to the Advertiser.
Building an outer city ring road has been estimated to cost €600m, but Galway East TD, Canney – formerly a quantity surveyor – said he expects delays in planning, and a 30 per cent increase in civil engineering costs over the past three years to potentially inflate that number. “When you delay, you’re adding costs to a project, and that’s the reality,” he said. “I get very frustrated seeing projects getting delayed; knowing that time is money.”
A spokesman for the Department of Transport said it will be possible to provide “greater clarity on timelines” once An Bord Pleanála has made a decision.
“In the event that permission is secured, the scheme would proceed through any remaining statutory processes, and to the preparation of a procurement strategy as is required at Approval Gate 2 of the Infrastructure Guidelines,” he said. “If approved at that point, the scheme would proceed to tender, and [then] completion of a Final Business Case, ahead of a government decision on whether to proceed.”
Galway received just under €10m last week for new roads under the 2025 Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII ) grant allocation to local authorities for national roads. This includes 29 projects across the county, and two for projects with a city aspect, including the ring road.
Galway East’s government TDs Canney (Ind ), and Albert Dolan (FF ) made the Galway ring road a priority in their election manifestos last November, alongside Galway West TDs who support the government: Noel Grealish (RIG ), Hildegarde Naughton (FG ), and John Connolly (FF ).
