Mayo left waiting for funding details as Galway pushes ahead with €4m R332 upgrade
Mayo councillors have warned that delays in confirming road funding allocations are stalling progress on long‑awaited upgrades to the R332, as they asked for clarity on when a contractor will be appointed for the Kilmaine to Tuam (Foxhall) section.
Their concerns follow Galway County Council’s signing of a €4 million contract last week for upgrade works to be completed on the R332 Kilbannon Road near Tuam.
Mayo representatives are now seeking confirmation on when works can proceed on their section of the route.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) has yet to announce its 2026 allocations for regional and local roads.
While funding details are expected in the coming weeks, Mayo councillors say the timeline is far too late in the year to allow projects to be planned, tendered and delivered efficiently.
The issue was raised by Cllr Damien Ryan at the February meeting of Mayo County Council, where he asked when the authority would be in a position to sign a contract for the next phase of works.
Cllr Patsy O’Brien, who seconded the query, stated that late funding announcements from TII were having a “huge impact in relation to the tendering process”.
He said the expected confirmation of 2026 funding “in the coming weeks” was “not good enough”, warning that the delay was “putting us back”.
“Now, a quarter of the year is gone, and we have to go looking for contractors when they have their plans set out for the year,
“These roads and all these allocations should be made available in January - no later. This is ridiculous, it’s not fair on the public representatives, on the executive or on the general public,” he said.
The R332 project has already faced funding challenges. In July 2025, it emerged that the €1.2 million allocated by TII was at risk of being returned to the Department of Transport because no contractor had been appointed at the time.
Councillors warned then that the full allocation needed to be spent to strengthen Mayo’s case for increased funding in 2026 to support the upgrade of the 11km stretch of road.
Clearance works have since been completed, but details on the next phase of the upgrade now depend on the level of funding TII confirms for 2026.
Cllr Michael Burke said he was “working on the assumption” that further funding would be announced as he questioned whether a new tender process would be required for works taking place under 2026 funding.
He argued it would be “not good economics” for one contractor to finish the works, only for another to restart them under a different contract weeks or months later due to another tender process having to take place.
Head of Roads at Mayo County Council, Tom Gilligan, told the meeting that another tender process had been carried out. He said it closed last Friday and applications were now being assessed.
“We are waiting for the allocation to come so that we can award the contract,” he said.
“Last year we had €1.2m allocated. This year, we want to get that funding and award the contract, particularly now that our colleagues in Galway have moved ahead with that section,” he added.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.