Opposition to transport infrastructure in the West of Ireland ‘destructive’ and ‘anti-community’.

The Independent Ireland candidate for Galway West, Noel Thomas, has said that the group will do whatever is required to build the Galway City Outer Ring Road. He described opposition to transport infrastructure in the West of Ireland as ‘destructive’ and ‘anti-community’. 

Councillor Thomas said that the traffic issue is decimating communities in the West of Ireland by blocking investment in necessary development. “The people of Galway have been living with traffic chaos for far too long,” he said. “People are spending hours in their cars every day by having all traffic funnelled into a couple of junctions close to the city centre. It’s counterproductive, bad for people’s health and anti business,” he said. “We need to prioritise the greater good of the general public and build the outer ring road and a new R336. The industrial development authorities are being told by companies looking to invest in Ireland that Galway is off their list of potential destinations due to the traffic situation. They don’t want their staff sitting in traffic for hours before and after work and they can’t guarantee supply chains due to the uncertainty around traffic in the area. Galway’s loss is other cities gain as these companies are locating where there is ease of access to their facilities. Several companies have told me that they will not even look at Galway and Conamara as locations for their businesses because of the traffic situation in the city and along the R336. Galway is a great city and Conamara is one the most beautiful places in the world to live and work. Both are being damaged by the lack of progress on much needed infrastructure like the Galway Outer Ring Road and the upgraded R336.” 

“Our country is currently being led in the wrong direction by politicians whose policies are fundamentally flawed and against the good of the overall community. This needs to change drastically so that our youth feel that it is worth their while to stay here and work here. We need more favourable decisions on planning for local people who want to build their family homes in the rural parts of Conamara. We need to invest in the necessary services and to promote business and enterprise to help our communities to grow and prosper. That means a co-ordinated transport policy that includes more cycle lanes, increased public transport and better roads. We need to have less cars in the city and the only way we can do that is to improve on the roads infrastructure around the city so that cars going from one side of the county to the other don’t have to go into the city at all. We will do whatever it takes to build the the Galway city ring road and a new road to replace the R336,” Noel Thomas said.