With only a week to go until deadline for submissions to the National Development Plan (NDP ), advocates for light rail in Galway sought a last-minute meeting with county councillors this week.
The Gluas Committee is urging city and county councillors, senior officials in both Galway local authorities, and local TDs, to lobby the government to include at least €1m in funding for a route appraisal for Galway.
Last October, a National Transport Authority (NTA ) study confirmed the feasibility of 15km of light rail for Galway city, with a price tag of between €1.2 and €1.4 billion depending on route, infrastructure and connections for branch lines.
Galway County Councillor Tomás Ó Curraoin (RSF ), who attended the meeting, said he was “one million per cent” behind a route study for Gluas, which might eventually extend to Barna, Spiddal, Claregalway and Oranmore.
“If you’re going to build it once, it’s right to plan it properly,” he said.
The Gluas Committee was offered a short slot with Galway City Council’s project delivery committee last week, after a scheduling error in City Hall meant they were unable to make presentations to the Council’s full plenary meeting last Monday, June 9.
The Gluas advocates have been lobbying the Galway Chamber of Commerce, employer organisation Ibec, and are expected to address the full city council again in July. The sense amongst attendees at all meetings has ranged from sympathetic to positive.
Speaking to the Advertiser, city Mayor Peter Keane (FF ) said that thanks to the publication of feasibility studies and persistent lobbying, the case for light rail for Galway “is gaining traction, and what’s needed is every elected politician and official in Galway bringing the case to government for a route study like they have done in Cork. However, any plan must fit in with the GMATS [Galway Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy] which is essentially suspended until there is a planning decision on the Ring Road,” he said.
On a recent visit to Galway city, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he would consider funding a route appraisal for Gluas in the upcoming National Development Plan (NDP ), despite light rail for Galway not meriting a mention in the government’s latest National Planning Framework (NPF ), which usually feeds into the NDP.
In April, Martin presided over the opening of a public consultation to assess route options for a 18km light rail system for Cork city, with a price tag of €2bn. Luas Cork is part of the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (CMATS ) which includes a BusConnects, heavy rail upgrades, road realignment, and new cycling and walking infrastructure.
The Galway Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (GMATS ) began in 2022, but was put into hiatus last month by the NTA, until the fate of the proposed N6 Galway City Ringroad is known. Last week, An Bord Pleanála ordered a third round of public consultations on the proposed 18km orbital road, first mooted at €550m ten years ago, but now expected to cost in excess of €1bn.
Brendan Holland, of the Gluas Committee, said he is beseeching Galway’s political representatives and civil society groups to convince the government to allocate €1m to €2m in the €165 billion NDP to pay for a preferred route study.
“Last month, the Department of Transport’s cost of congestion report said that if we do everything in the Galway Transport Strategy, including the ring road – which we are not against – we will be in a worse scenario than we are now. Galway needs something transformative, and that’s Gluas,” he said.
Holland warned that all current plans for transport are paused until a ring road decision is made. “That could be in a year, or – at worst – in ten years, making it more urgent than ever to support the Gluas case for a decision on the Emerging Preferred Route, for the sake of your children, and their future.”
If a route study for Gluas is not included in the NDP, Holland said rail advocates will look to Europe. “Transport infrastructure in the west of Ireland is ranked the same as rural Romania, so we will seek funding there, but that’s another delay,” he said.
Meanwhile, city officials confirmed this week that the National Transport Agency will attend a full sitting of Galway City Council in September or October, after a number of invitations sent over the past two years were not accepted.
