Families losing homes to Ring Road ‘being offered pennies’ as construction timeline emerges

The meeting heard that preliminary works on the Ring Road are expected to begin around 2029 with a completion date set for 2032.

However, Cllr Forde said he was deeply concerned about the position of families who face losing their homes.

“They are being offered pennies,” he said. “They should not have to identify as people who have a housing need. That is completely wrong.”

He said guarantees had been given by Galway City Council that there would be a local area plan for Castlegar.

As a result, Cllr Forde called for an urgent meeting with the affected families “without delay”.

The proposed 18km Galway City Ring Road will run from the end of the M6 at Coolagh to west of Bearna.

The route will include 11.9km of dual carriageway, 5.6km of single carriageway, a new bridge over the River Corrib, two viaducts and two tunnels.

The project affects 54 families, with 44 homes earmarked for demolition, and a further ten to be purchased because of their proximity to the proposed route.

Concerns about the impact on homeowners were also raised by Cllr Declan McDonnell (Ind), who warned against repeating the experience of families in Bushypark.

He asked that “people whose houses are CPO'd are not left in limbo”.

“People in Bushypark were left hanging,” he said.

“They are losing their homes. I do not want what happened in Bushypark to happen again.”

He acknowledged that the road was needed to improve traffic conditions but insisted the interests of affected homeowners could not be overlooked.

In response, Director of Services Derek Pender said that engagement with affected property owners is a priority for the Minister.

He said Galway County Council has five liaison officers working on the issue and that he had personally met many of the affected households.

“I met nearly all of them myself,” he said.

The meeting also heard the clearest indication yet of when work on the Ring Road could get underway.

Mr Pender outlined a programme that would see the project go to market in the third quarter of 2027, with enabling works expected to begin during that year.

He said there would be activity on the site towards the end of 2028, including fencing and the relocation of major utility infrastructure.

A significant element of the preparatory works will involve moving high-voltage electricity cables, some of which will have to be bored and tunnelled beneath the new motorway.

Mr Pender said the intention was to have “boots on the ground” by the first quarter of 2029, with the main construction contract commencing in the second quarter of that year.

The timeline follows the withdrawal of the final judicial review challenging the project, a development widely welcomed by elected members.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme