The 2025 Climate Action Plan goes before cabinet today. Also today, Galway County Council will submit revised documentation to An Bord Pleanála in an attempt to show that the Galway City Ring Road is compatible with the Plan.
RTE news : Climate, competitiveness and economy before Cabinet
http://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2025/0415/1507665-ireland-politics/
Yesterday the government published the draft National Planning Framework. The section on Galway City is full of sensible plans for compact urban development and sustainable transport.
The Galway City Ring Road looks like an anomaly stuck in there near the end, almost like it was added in at the insistence of politicians rather than something the planners view as essential.
Interesting to see this report on the housing market in Galway which was published around the same time as my own article.
We both agree that the ongoing saga with the Ring Road has impacted on efforts to deliver housing at scale in the city, but I think our reasons for coming to that conclusion might differ a bit.
"Galway ring road plans are preventing housing improvement in city, says leading estate agent"
A post I put up on LinkedIn last week about the Galway City Ring Road prompted a lot of discussion so I thought it was worth a more detailed exploration of the timeline of events which have brought us to where we are. Thank you to @irishcycle for publishing my article.
At what point do we cut our losses and admit to ourselves that this road is going nowhere?
It has taken two and a half years for Galway County Council to concoct an argument that the Galway City Ring Road complies with the national Climate Action Plan. In that time Galway County Council has been allocated €8.4 million towards the road.
I look forward to reading their submission - it must be some document for that amount of money!
https://connachttribune.ie/galway-ring-road-goes-back-to-planning-authority/
The government is throwing another €2.4m at the Galway City Ring Road this year, on top of the €3m it spent last year, for a project that has yet to be granted planning permission. Even if they manage to convince An Bord Pleanála that it complies with the Climate Action Plan, its unlikely to survive legal challenges. We're just throwing good money after bad at this stage.
But hey, what about that Leinster House bike shed?
https://www.thejournal.ie/633-million-funding-national-roads-6661811-Mar2025/
Edit: €2.4m not €3.2
I think @tomflood must have had Galway City Council in mind when he created this artwork.
Yet another development in Galway that is being blocked by the persistent belief that the Galway City Ring Road is ever going to happen. The City and County Councils need to accept reality here and start to plan for a city where the majority of people get around by public transport and active travel.
And we need to see the publication of the long overdue Galway Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (GMATS) to move towards a more resilient city plan.
Ciarán Cannon on why building the Galway City Ring Road is an idea past its sell by date. As Justice Richard Humphreys' recent High Court ruling said: “an immediate end to business as usual is a precondition for planetary survival.”
https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/galway-ring-road-2-6598715-Jan2025/
Newly co-opted Galway City Councillor Mike Crowe saying he'd like to prioritise the Galway City Ring Road when it is a Galway *County* Council application that will be adjudicated on by An Bord Pleanála and most likely the courts (both Irish and European), with funding, if it ever happens, provided by central government. There is nothing he can do, as a city councillor, to make it happen but he thinks it plays to his base to say these things.
The Galway Advertiser asked all the Galway West General Election candidates about their views on the Galway City Ring Road.
tl;dr: FF, FG, SF along with the ex-PD Indo, and the ex-FF Independent Ireland unequivocally support the Ring Road
Everyone else (including Aontú) wants to see other public transport and active travel solutions progressed with more urgency.
Ex-PD Councillor Declan McDonnell says that the Galway City Ring Road is "20% of the solution, it’s not the total solution, but it’s part of it".
So if we're spending €1bn on the ring road does that mean we get to spend €4bn on public transport and active travel?
Fine Gael explicitly commit to the Galway City Ring Road and M20 in their manifesto, Fianna Fáil don't mention specific roads but say they are "committed to improving and expanding our national roads network" which they say is necessary for "sustainable growth".
The Green Party says it will "make sure that spending on new roads prioritises projects that take traffic out of our towns and urban centres and on road upgrades that improve road safety". Labour say something similar.
#GCRR #GE24
The report includes a hint at what might be included in the long awaited Galway Metropolitan Area Transport Study (GMATS). Hard to see how anything here can be used to justify the Galway City Ring Road.
Light Rail Feasibility Study for Galway just dropped https://www.nationaltransport.ie/publications/light-rail-feasibility-study-for-galway/
#Galway #Gluas #LightRail #SustainableTransport #GCRR #PublicTransport
"With or without the proposed City Ring Road, sustainable solutions are needed in the short-term to tackle the chaos on the city’s transport network."
The penny is finally dropping in Galway.
https://connachttribune.ie/galwegians-spent-three-days-a-year-stuck-in-traffic-454/
There's a lot of "ifs" in that statement from Noel Grealish
https://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/143116/galway-should-get-a-bite-of-the-13bn-apple
![“If re-elected, I will be insisting that [Galway projects] be included in any five-year Programme for Government if parties approach me looking for support,” said Deputy Grealish who could be a kingmaker in a potentially hung Dáil.
Top of the priority list for Grealish is funding for the Galway City Ring Road, if it is approved by An Bord Pleanála.](https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonie/media_attachments/files/113/168/796/340/565/179/original/074c5ed2f3d6217b.jpg "“If re-elected, I will be insisting that [Galway projects] be included in any five-year Programme for Government if parties approach me looking for support,” said Deputy Grealish who could be a kingmaker in a potentially hung Dáil.
Top of the priority list for Grealish is funding for the Galway City Ring Road, if it is approved by An Bord Pleanála.")
"Traffic cannot improve until car dependence is tackled seriously – and a city-wide school bus service, as well as safe walking and cycling routes to schools, are badly needed first steps."
“We would much rather see a feasibility study for a Light Rail option completed as soon as possible and measures taken to reduce traffic into and across #Galway rather than facilitate it further by inducing demand through a new road — a new road shown in its own reports to increase travel times in many areas of the city. We should be working towards fewer new roads, fewer cars on the road, fewer emissions, and fewer hours spent in our cars”
Well said @denmanrooke
https://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/142182/traffic-is-stealing-days-of-our-lives-each-year-declares-people-before-profit-galway #GCRR
Another politician who promises to do something about the traffic in #Galway despite having blocked safe cycling infrastructure in the city during the last council term.
"Our traffic congestion and transport problem...is the biggest challenge in Galway City. It is affecting the wellbeing of our people...we have to use every tool within our disposal to ensure that we bring a solution to this problem.”
The only "tool" he mentions is the Galway City Ring Road 
#GCRR
