Legal challenge could delay upgrade of major Galway road
Plans to progress upgrade works on the N59 in Connemara have hit a new legal bump on the road after an application for permission to bring a judicial review was lodged over a planning decision that was expected to help clear the way for further upgrade works on the N59 from Bunnakill to Oughterard.
The development was confirmed in a response to parliamentary questions submitted by Galway West TD John Connolly (FF) to the Minister for Transport, Darragh O'Brien.
Galway County Council officials had sounded an optimistic note on progress at a Connemara Municipal Authority meeting in Clifden just two months ago – raising hopes that long running obstacles concerning the road plan were largely under control.
But now fresh doubts have been cast on its progress.
Deputy Connolly said he was 'very disappointed' by the latest development, which he said creates further uncertainty and delay.
“Part of the N59 already has been upgraded and half of the works are completed to a very high standard. We need to complete the works to Oughterard to make it safer," he said.
“The road is dangerous in certain quarters. There is such a difference in the quality between the work that has been done and the work that needs to be done,” he added.
The original approval for the 15km N59 Maam Cross to Oughterard Road Project was granted in 2013.
That followed a Public Hearing held in Galway over several days in February 2013, and again in August 2013, which heard strong opposition from residents in the Glengowla area west of Oughterard to the routing of the road to the north of that townland. The local residents were supported by environmental activist Peter Sweetman.
The 5.3km stretch from Maam Cross to Bunnakill was completed in 2021, while upgrade works between Bunnakill and Claremount towards Oughterard have yet to be carried out.
A planning condition required the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) to formally agree or approve certain construction-stage environmental measures.
This condition has turned into a bone of contention over the last 13 years.
Principal among the environmental concerns was the status of the pearl mussel, a European protected species, in the Owenriff River in the Oughterard area.
While the river is some distance from where the actual roadway work was planned, its basin extends some distance westwards along a valley.
Galway County Council applied to An Coimisiún Pleanála last October to change the condition and remove that formal approval requirement, with written support from both the NPWS and IFI.
The change was approved in February.
However, it has now emerged that an application for leave to seek a judicial review of that decision was submitted on June 23.
The matter is currently before the courts.
“The Government committed funding and I was hopeful that the works would be complete over the year,” said Deputy Connolly.
“It is hard to say how much this could delay the project.”
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.