Galway Harbour expansion approved on same day Ring Road gets go-ahead!
Planning permission has been granted for the extension of Galway Harbour in another major decision for the city announced today (April 9).
An Coimisiún Pleanála approved the harbour expansion on the same day it gave the go-ahead for the Galway City Ring Road. (Read more about that decision here: Planning permission approved for Galway Ring Road)
Both projects have the potential to transform Galway and the West of Ireland.
The harbour expansion plans were designed to facilitate larger ships docking in Galway – including cruise ships – and to free-up the inner dock for recreational and leisure facilities.
Like the Ring Road, plans to expand Galway Harbour have been decades in the making.
They were previously stalled due to the environmental impact on Galway Bay. This latest decision confirms the Special Area of Conservation within Galway Bay will be affected but the development is necessary “for imperative reasons of overriding public interest”.
The proposed development includes reclaiming approximately 27 hectares from the foreshore and seabed to be redeveloped for “harbour related business”.
It includes quay walls, breakwaters and wave walls to create commercial quays and a deep-water docking facility, extending southwards into Galway Bay.
It also includes dredging to create a new approach channel to the commercial quays and the deep-water docking facility berths.
The proposals include a new marina on the western side, fishing quays, a slipway for a lifeboat station and a nautical centre on the eastern side of the site.
There will be a twin track freight rail link from the existing Galway to Dublin rail line to the commercial quays, including embankments and a rail over-bridge to the existing service road.
It will also include more harbour-related buildings, including four-storey port offices, as well as additional car parking.
The proposal includes the construction and improvement of access roads, such as the “realignment of the road under Lough Atalia Rail Bridge”, which is a protected structure, and other road realignment and improvements, including traffic lights at Dock Road and Bóthar na Long.
The site is sensitive environmentally and within a Special Area of Conservation but An Coimisiún Pleanála said it was “satisfied beyond reasonable scientific doubt that the proposed development, including the mitigation measures ... would not adversely affect the integrity of the European Sites, or any other European Site, with the exception of Galway Bay Complex Special Area of Conservation, either alone or in combination with other plans or projects, in view of the Sites’ conservation objectives”.
The Commission confirmed its original conclusion that the integrity of the Galway Bay Complex Special Area of Conservation would be adversely affected by the proposed development but it approved it “for imperative reasons of overriding public interest”.
This was “the need to ensure the continued operation of Galway as a regional port and the long-term social or economic benefits of the proposed development.”
Galway West TD John Connolly (FF) has welcomed the grant of approval for harbour expansion and Ring Road.