News of the initiative comes as expectation in senior government circles is growing that An Bord Pleanála will initiate a second oral hearing on environmental aspects of the planning permission for the N6 City Ring Road.
Galway County Council’s 2018 planning application for the €600m ring road was granted by ABP in December 2021, after several weeks of oral hearings over seven months in 2020. This decision was quashed by the High Court in January, 2023, after judicial reviews found ABP had not considered a government climate plan published four days before its decision to grant planning permission.
Last month, Galway County Council responded to a Further Information Request from ABP including updated environmental analyses.
Senior government sources anticipate that this response, which is essentially a massive refinement of the original planning application with up-to-date data, will prompt the recently restructured planning board – now renamed An Coimisiún Pleanála – to hold a new oral hearing into the environmental impacts of an 18km orbital roadway.
Galway City Council chief executive, Leonard Cleary, warned city councillors last year that an oral hearing was likely to address how a major new road around Galway city, including bridges and tunnels, tallies with the Government’s National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP ), which runs to 2030, and the National Long-Term Climate Action Strategy (NLTS ), which looks at the period beyond 2030.
Taskforce personnel to expedite infrastructure projects will be appointed by Minister Chambers in June after he receives a departmental report outlining international best practice in removing blockages to infrastructure delivery. This will examine planning and legal issues, alongside administrative processes and EU requirements. IMF and OECD officials are expected to contribute to the report.
The taskforce, which will meet monthly and be chaired by the minister, will draw on expertise from Uisce Éireann, Eirgird and the ESB to overcome bottlenecks in constructing major projects, including the proposed N6 - if it again receives planning permission.
Galway East TD Sean Canney, Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development, predicted last month that if there were no further planning delays, construction on a new road could begin by 2028.
Speaking to the Advertiser, Galway West TD, Noel Grealish, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, said he welcomed news that transport infrastructure delivery in Galway will be prioritised by Government.
“Yes. I welcome it. The minister is prioritising housing, but [he] has also told me that the Galway City Ringroad will be considered in these new proposals,” he said.
On social media, fellow Galway West TD, Mairead Farrell, Sinn Fein’s spokeswoman on public expenditure, dismissed Chamber’s new plans as “old wine in new barrels”.
