Three new job vacancies in Galway crucial to next phase of long-awaited ring road project
Three job vacancies have opened for Specific Purpose Contracts in relation to the long-awaited Galway City Ring Road project.
Posted on Galway County Council’s job vacancy website are three temporary roles for the next phase of the Galway City Ring Road – an 18km connection from the Connemara side of Galway City to the N6 whose value is expected to exceed €1 billion.
The roles are Project Liaison Officer, Project Resident Engineer, and Project Co-Ordinator. All three positions have a 35 contracted hour work week and 30 days of annual leave. Additionally, each role’s renumeration ranges between €80,000 to €114,000.
There are 54 dwellings which will be acquired or demolished to make provision for the Ring Road. Residents from the directly impacted area of Castlegar shared their frustrations and sadness with the Irish Independent in April as one woman called the situation “horrific.”
“It has taken a huge toll on people. All we want now is to know where we’re going to end our days,” a homeowner of one of the properties subject to acquisition said.
Whoever fills the role of the Liaison Officer will be responsible for “sensitive engagement” with homeowners like this one as well as, businesses, and landowners who will further be affected by the project.
Marie Donovan looks out of the window of her home in Castlegar, Galway city. © Ray Ryan
The closing date for the contract vacancies is September 17 at 4.00pm.
These job postings come nearly a month after Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation Minister Jack Chambers designated nine transport, water, and energy projects to be among the first batch of projects under the Critical Infrastructure Act 2026.
The Galway City Ring Road, approved by An Coimisiún Pleanála in July 2026, is one of them.
The new infrastructure powers allow Government to set apart certain publicly funded projects of “critical national importance,” allowing them to accelerate through decision-making bodies by any means necessary.
In July, Minister Chambers told the Sunday Independent he wants to “cut the crap” from the planning process, removing “excessive processes and bureaucracy”, including the Galway Ring Road, delays around which, he said, have “gone on for 20 years” and is “sitting on a list where it is process after process, legal challenge after legal challenge”.
The four applications seeking to challenge An Coimisiún Pleanála’s approval by way of Judicial Review will remain, as they were submitted before the onboarding of the infrastructure act.
The Irish Independent understands those cases will be heard by the High Court on a provisional November date.