Just when residents figured a six year saga concerning safety fears for a busy Barna road was coming to some conclusion, all has been thrown into confusion.
A senior official in Galway County Council contacted a number of Galway West TDs last week, informing them that it had entered into a “confidential and legally binding” agreement with parties connected to the An Maolán luxury housing estate to fix up roads, paths and common areas left unfinished since 2020 along the Paint Box Road in Truskey West.
The road, also known as Avough Road, off the Creagán or ‘Twelve Pins Road’ will form a section of the Barna Village Inner Relief Road, and has been a constant source of safety concerns as part of it is loose gravel with no kerbing or pavement for at least four years.
Residents of the area have held public meetings since 2022, calling on the local authority to force developer Denalibrook Ltd to tidy up the road which runs alongside its Maolán estate. Denalibrook is backed by well known property speculators from Galway and Dublin.
The luxury estate has been in the headlines since its first phase was completed seven years ago, as despite almost all units being snapped up for at least €450,000 each off plans, some homeowners waited up to four years to receive their keys.
A statement yesterday from Denalibrook said it had “reached an agreement on terms that provide for the completion of road upgrade works at Creagán Road, Bearna, and the delivery of five homes for social housing. As part of the agreement, Denalibrook has also facilitated the purchase of lands by the Council to enable the future extension of the Barna Inner Relief Road.”
Local politicians however, report they have been contacted by parties connected to the settlement, warning them to be wary of sharing incorrect information online.
“There is ongoing engagement between Galway County Council and a private developer regarding the completion of a housing development, including the Paintbox Road in Barna,” a spokesman for Galway County Council told the Advertiser.
In March 2025, Denalibrook submitted a request to the County Council, seeking a two year extension to fulfil its planning permission conditions. The local authority extended the permission for one year on condition the developer lodge a cash security of almost €1.05 million with the council within three months.
Last month, the western end of the Barna Relief Road - first mooted in 2004 - received funding under the government’s new, €1bn Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund. This will include a 340-metre road with upgraded junctions and improved pedestrian facilities to link the routes inland of Barna village to the R336 Coast Road.
Since 2007, when designers of the first Galway City Outer Bypass intended it to terminate near Barna, a relief road for the village was envisaged to take local traffic off the busy Coast Road, linking Galway city with south Connemara through Barna village. This relief road would essentially become a new village centre, on a route parallel to the village’s historic, coastal core.
