Galway: still long-term the fastest growing city in Europe

56 July 2022

HISTORY

The ﬁrst mention of Galway (from Gaillimh meaning ‘stony’) was in 1124

when a fort was built there. However, the town was founded in 1232 when

baron Richard de Burgh created a town. After 1270 walls were built around

Galway, remnants of which can be seen to this day.

Galway received a municipal charter from the crown in December 1484.

This ensured the town’s independence from the Clanrickard Burkes.

TRIBES AND TRADE

During the Middle Ages, Galway was ruled by an oligarchy of fourteen mer-

chant families (12 of Anglo-Norman origin and 2 of Irish origin), the fabled

Tribes of Galway. The city thrived on international trade. In the Middle

Ages, it was the principal Irish port for trade with Spain and France. It was

beyond the pale, not paying taxes to the English Crown, a bastion of inde-

pendence, trading liberally and monitored.

A reminder of those days is the Spanish Arch (1584). The population of

medieval Galway is thought to have been about 3,000. By 1505 some of

the streets of Galway were paved and

In 1579 it was noted that: “The town is well built and walled with an ex-

cellent good harbour and is replenished with many wealthy merchants”.

Galway prospered in the seventeenth and eighteenth century reaching a

population of 5000 and incorporating suburbs.

Galway: still

long-term the fastest

growing city in Europe

By Michael Smith

Planning is improving but not fast enough and rural

development patterns in the County are unsustainable

CATASTROPHE OF THE GREAT FAMINE

The 23rd clause of the 1695 Penal Laws provided that “no Papist, except

under particular conditions, shall dwell in Limerick or Galway”.

Galway’s economy recovered somewhat from the late eighteenth cen-

tury as the Penal Laws were relaxed. However, the city’s rural hinterland

suered terribly in the Great Famine of the 1840s. Unlike other urban cen-

tres in nineteenth century Ireland, which experienced an explosion in their

populations, Galway’s population actually declined.

RAILWAY AND UNIVERSITY

The second half of the century saw some improvement in Galway’s posi-

tion as the railway lines reached the city in 1850. Galway Courthouse was

built in 1812 and Salmon Weir Bridge was built in 1818. Another impor-

tant development was the creation of a university in Galway in 1845, then,

named “Queen’s University of Ireland” - NUIG of today.

In 1812, there were 468 cabins or houses, all thatched, in the fabled

Claddagh area of Galway. By the late 1920s, many of the houses were

in poor condition and the city medical ocer prescribed demolition.

Thatched houses were replaced by rows of neat two-storey houses with

gardens. Mrs Sarah Curran’s house, the last of the old ones still standing,

was demolished in 1938.

A statue of Padraic O’Conaire was erected in 1934, the Roman Catholic

Cathedral in Galway designed by John J Robinson was completed in 1965,

Galway City Museum opened in 1977 and The Quincentennial Fountain

ENVIRONMENT

July 2022 57

dates from 1984. Eyre Square Shopping Centre opened in 1991. The new

Palás/Palace arthouse cinema, a twisted concrete box designed by archi-

tect Tom de Paor that ended up costing €9.5 million, opened in 2018.

THE LAST  YEARS: GROWING AND SPRAWLING FAST

Galway was known as the fastest-growing city in Europe in the 1980s,1990s

and 2000s but most of it was sprawl all the way out as far as Clifden. Much

of the fabric of the city itself was lost and replaced with faux mediaeval

fripperies including around Spanish Arch and Shop St linked by crass and

decaying concrete paving installed with pedestrianisation in 1998.

POPULATION

Census 2022 shows that the population growth in Galway was smaller than

the national average (7.1%). Galway city had 83,456 inhabitants on Cen-

sus night in early April and Galway county’s population grew to just shy of

193,000. The City’s population could rise by between 50% and 55% by 2040.

When combined with the city’s recognised status as the fastest growing

city in Europe around the millennium, it retains a claim to being the biggest

growth centre on the continent over ﬁfty years.

THE PRESENT

DEVELOPMENT RATES IN GALWAY

House completion rates increased to approximately 300 in 2019 from a

low of 32 houses in 2012. This is in contrast to economically buoyant years

where a historical peak of 2,305 house completions was achieved in 2003.

The city has sucient land capacity to meet both the built-up demand

and the projected demand to fulﬁl the targets set out in the MASP to 2026.

At present there are approximately 155 hectares of residential zoned land

available within the city. It is also noted that there are currently planning

permissions for 2,001 residential units (November 2020).

74% of the population in Galway City lives

in a House/Bungalow compared to 86% nationally. 24% of households

live in a ﬂat/apartment compared to 11.8% nationally.

47% of households in Galway City live in owner-occupied housing. This

is in comparison to 66% of households nationally. 35.5% of households in

Galway City live in private rented accommodation, this compares to 18.2%

of households nationally.

QUALITY OF LIFE

The city has long had a favourable demographic and is famously friendly.

‘Lonely Planet’ readers voted it the most friendly city in the world in 2020. It

has always had a vibrant student-driven night-life famous for parties, pubs,

festivals and its comfort with the Irish language. More recently it has de-

veloped a new reputation for culinary excellence. It was European City of

Culture in 2020, though it was over-centralised and over-budget and was

not a clear success.

The city ranked among Europe’s top ten cities for raising children in 2022.

Galway’s high score is largely down to its ‘Leisure & Lifestyle’ prospects

and the city also ranks as Europe’s 7th best for air quality.

DERELICTION

Galway suers from vacancy and dereliction like so many towns and cities

across Ireland. The number of vacant and derelict properties across the city

and county stands at almost 7,500, many allegedly held speculatively – at

a time when demand for houses is at an all-time high.

In the City in the last few years Orders under the Derelict Sites 1990 were

served on the owners of the former Connacht Laundry site, and former Oa-

sis venue in Salthill. 9-11 Dominick St have been on the register since 2009

and have been referred for legal proceedings.

The most egregious derelict site, the former Corrib Great Southern has

been derelict for 15 years but has now been demolished. The billionaire

Comer Brothers, who own the site, have said that they intend to use it for

apartments and student accommodation. Many have said the site should

be acquired via CPO for publicly owned student accommodation for the

nearby Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology. In the county there are many

derelict houses in the larger towns – Tuam (150), Portumna (124), Loughrea

(115), Ballinasloe (103) and Gort (79). A meeting of the County Council in

March was told that a Vacant House Ocer and a Town Centre Ocer have

been appointed.

INVESTMENT

Galway is home to four of the top ﬁve International Communications and

Technology companies – IBM, SAP, Oracle and Cisco.

As one of the chief growth centres under the National Development Plan

there will be a lot of investment in Galway over the coming decades.

Healthcare services across Galway are set to be transformed with con-

ﬁrmation in the NDP of the new emergency department and a cancer-care

network at University Hospital Galway, but the promise of a new acute hos-

pital at Merlin Park that may oer tertiary and secondary care services to

the West and North West region is as far o as ever. The recently opened

replacement orthopaedic theatres there (the original theatres had been

closed since 2017 because of leaky roofs), seem to have problems with

lack of sta, as reported in the June City Tribune.

Galway Courthouse will undergo refurbishment under the capital spend-

ing plan; the city’s wastewater network and treatment plant will also get

an upgrade; and the new learning commons at NUI Galway have been con-

ﬁrmed, along with a library regeneration project at the university, and the

provision of new student accommodation.

Urban regeneration projects supported under the URDF include the de-

velopment of a new civic space in Woodquay, enhancement works at the

Spanish Arch and the creation of a new waterfront space at Cathedral Plaza.

Claddagh around 1900

Corrib Gret Southern ﬁnllly being demolished, though with no cler pln

58 July 2022

economic development. The Plan facilitate the unsustainable increase

in imported fossil fuel and petroleum products and had no integration

with the required transition to a low carbon future.

• The plan would worsen HGV and oil-tanker trac through the urban area

of Galway, from Lough Atalia Road to the Claddagh.

• In an era of sea-level rises the scheme is at risk of ﬂooding.

• In all events funding will have to be local as no EU or government ﬁnance

is available due to Galway Port’s lowly Tier 3 state, which disallows gov-

ernment support.

ADJACENT PORT LANDS

Lands around the old port would then become available for large-scale de-

velopments.

The graphic visualisations included here tell you a lot about the scale of

developments planned, none of which have been part of any City Plan, but

are being entirely led by developers’ own plans,

Nobody is against change, but there is no serious City Council Plan. And

there are concerns that new developments, being entirely developer-led

and proﬁt-driven will be entirely unaordable for anyone in Galway.

CITY CENTRE DEVELOPMENT:

By around 2006 Galway Council was understandably anxious to have the

run-down station/port area designated an SDZ by the DoE. Dublin’s Dock-

lands, though over-priced and divided into single-use blocks, were seen

as the template.

Dave Walsh, now chairman of beleaguered An Bord Pleanála, was then

an ocial working in the Department of the Environment ‘Spatial Planning

Unit’. His advice to city management, was to refuse this but to suggest that

a Local Area Plan would be the best way to go, with consideration for SDZ

status to be “reviewed” later. The city executive planners say, that, scan-

dalously, they don’t have the resources to draw up LAPs.

So the City Council facilitated developer-led plans by Galway developer

Gerry Barrett and his partner CIE to develop Ceannt Station lands. They fell

foul of the crash but have been resurrected in the last year. Named “Augus-

tine Hill” a mixed-use development is proposed for a 3.3ha former coalyard

by CIÉ, which owns the land, Edward Capital, run by Barrett, and Summix

Capital. CIÉ held a competition in 2017 to ﬁnd a developer for the site.

Green Party Councillor Martina O’Connor complained: “The masterplan has

been created to maximise proﬁts for the developer and is not considerate

of the needs of the people of Galway”

The City Council told the developer to scale down its original proposal

because of the threat it posed to “the unique character of the city”. The

original plan had 11 towers, the tallest of which is 21 storeys, making it the

highest residential building in Ireland. It is being retained, but the number

of other towers is being reduced from 10 to nine. The nine tower blocks

have been reduced by either one or two storeys

If this development goes ahead it will consist of 11 new streets and four

new public spaces in an area within ﬁve minutes’ walk of Eyre Square.

DEVELOPMENTS

THE HARBOUR

In 1830 the Galway Docks and Canal Bill was passed to establish and main-

tain a navigable canal between Lough Corrib and the sea and to improve

and develop Galway Harbour to “facilitate and augment the Trade of the

Town and Neighbourhood”. The dock was not completed until 1843.

Now, 200 years on, attempts are being made to build a deepwater ex-

tension to the 1843 docks. Only this time it is not about extending transat-

lantic trade to America, but more about land based property development

around the existing old port once it is freed up. This will drastically change

Galway’s Ceannt Station and Harbour landscapes.

HARBOUR DEVELOPMENT

The 180-year-old dreams of a Transatlantic Port for Galway have not gone

away. In order to service the increasingly lucrative ocean liner tourism a

plan has been put in place by the Harbour Board and now all eorts are be-

ing made to get national and European funding to get the project started.

Interestingly as it has been for nearly 700 years this aspiration has pitted

mercantile Limerick against Galway, with Limerick vying – more success-

fully -for the same funds to develop an ocean liner port at Foynes on the

Shannon estuary. It is highly likely that bulk trade will move away south

from Galway.

Galway’s historic ‘gated port’ is too small. So a major expansion plan

was lodged in 2014, with an oral hearing following in 2015 for a 27-hectare,

€52m extension of the harbour, which will include the creation of commer-

cial quays, a deep-water docking facility and the reclamation of lands from

the sea.

The State-owned G Company wants a new commercial harbour to ac-

commodate ships up to 40,000 tonnes for Topaz Oil, the local quarry and

scrap trade and to indulge the current, or at least pre-Covid, precarious fe-

tish for humungous cruise ships; with a 24-hectare inﬁll jetty sticking out

into the European Habitats and Birds Directive protected bay. A decision

is expected soon, after discussions with the National Parks and Wildlife

Service on whether planning consent can be given for “Imperative Reasons

of Overriding Public Interest”.

According to An Taisce the prime reasons for refusing permission include

the following:

• The 2013 National Ports Policy, which outlined a plan-led strategy, de-

ﬁned a 3-three-tier rating system for ports. The Galway Harbour Exten-

sion proposal for a Tier 3 Regional port, without direct connection to the

national road network, contravenes this national strategy

• The plan is based on a ﬂawed socio-economic model of continued

fossil-fuel, resource-ravaging and biodiversity-diminishing short term

The proposed Augustine Hill development in Galway: Plans for the

€320 million redevelopment of an eight-acre site beside Ceannt

Station in the city have been put on hold. Image: Edward Group

A new commercil hrbour

July 2022 59

Meanwhile the City Development Plan 2023-29 aims to transform the city

to become “more concentrated, compact and co-ordinated” and so sug-

gests the ever-hackneyed “landmark buildings” beloved of planners which

include high rise around Ceannt Station and the Inner Harbour:

“A focus on regeneration of brownﬁeld and underutilised sites that are

well served by existing and planned public transport, amenity, social and

community infrastructure is required. The resulting regeneration will have

the potential to be transformative for the city, creating new urban districts,

vibrant and attractive places, sustainable city living and a reduced car-

bon footprint”, states the draft which aims at a change in direction “due

to changing retail trends” so planning in future must reﬂect “the need for

diversity of uses” and “move towards a broader day and night-time econ-

omy”.

It is also proposed that more needs to be done to encourage the use of

vacant upper ﬂoors in the city centre for housing as part of an overall ‘living

city’ policy.

Other areas of the city slated for regeneration include Eyre Square East,

from Richardson’s Pub down as far as Forster Street – where 30 properties

are in the ownership of the Comer and McHale Groups.

A master plan is also to be created for this area, suggesting the planning

of the area will not be developer-led.

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT EAST OF THE CENTRE

By the 1970s Galway had developed an enviable reputation as a hub for

Foreign Direct Investment in the computer sector. However Digital Equip-

ment Corporation, which had been the single largest employer in Galway

since 1971, closed its operations in 1993 with the loss of 750 jobs.

In 1997 a Galway Technology Centre was set up by a Government task

force. It has captured some of the world-class entrepreneurial talent that

was in Digital, and established start-up companies.

As a result over the past 20 years there has been a huge population

working in the industrial and business parks now expanding to the east of

the city centre.

Latterly some eort has been made to provide residential accommoda-

tion in this area.

Construction is nearing completion, for example, at Crown Square, on

the eastern outskirts of the city in Mervue, a €200m mixed-use develop-

ment in Galway. Crown Square will feature 5.2 hectares (13 acres) of oce,

a hotel, and a 345-unit housing scheme, ranging from ﬁve to nine storeys

of modest architectural ambition, without major public-transport links and

marketed as “only seven minutes from the motorway”.

Many more have had to look outside the city to ﬁnd housing which is af-

fordable, while failure to develop better public transport options, notably

a proposed LRT, has led to a worsening of city trac congestion. The city is

entirely dependent on car use!

ROADS

A new N6 Bypass, ﬁrst proposed in 1999, and estimated to cost €1bn was

approved by An Bord Pleanála in December 2021. The 18-km, €650 mil-

lion route would run from the existing M6 motorway east of Galway city

to Barna in the west, replacing plans for the Galway outer bypass, which

was approved by the board in 2008 but was eectively struck down by the

European Court of Justice ﬁve years later. It’s been estimated that only 3%

of the trac using it would actually bypass the city. The remaining 97%

would come and go from it. It is feared that all this will do is achieve great-

er urban sprawl! It would tend to undermine the 2: 1 balance in favour of

public transport agreed in the Programme for Government but risks being

forced through by the bigger parties in government, though the Greens are

nominally against it. The Green Party chair was reported as contemplating

a judicial review of the scheme on grounds it had failed to take into ac-

count Government travel and climate policies, particularly on assessment

criteria for road building and the emissions created by such large roads.

Meanwhile Tánaiste Leo Varadkar who’s much more powerful tweeted:

“Fully support this project. Will take the trac out of Galway City and make

it more liveable for residents and visitors and safer for cyclists and pedes-

trians”. Former Lord Mayor Councillor Noel Larkin (Ind) had his ﬁnger on the

unreconstructed local pulse when he said that “the vast majority of cars

will be electric or hydrogen-powered within a decade, so mass transport

such as light rail is not only unnecessary but totally unfeasible. The city’s

transport future should be the construction of an ‘outer bypass’”.

The Comer Group’s ‘vision’ for the eastern side of Eyre Square

Crown Squre

60 July 2022

OTHER TRANSPORTATION

The most signiﬁcant works under the NDP in Galway will be improvements

to Ceannt Station and “placing it at the heart of sustainable transport-led

development” in Galway; signiﬁcant track and station works for the Oran-

more to Athenry route ; and additional rail connectivity and expansion of

existing rail services.

The plan also envisages the delivery of the BusConnects programme

2030, the National Transport Authority’s programme to improve bus servic-

es and address climate change through changing to a zero emissions ﬂeet.

Under the plan, Galway should also be in line for new local cycling infra-

structure, while the feasibility of light rail in the city will be considered as

part of the review of the Galway Transport Strategy, due to start in 2022.

The Galway to Dublin Greenway will be completed within ﬁve years, and

a new pedestrian bridge as part of the Clifden Railway Cycle will also be

supported under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund. A deci-

sion on a proposed temporary two-way segregated cycle track in Galway

from Kingston Road, along the coastal side of the Salthill Promenade and

onto Grattan Road has been deferred.

Projects under consideration include Ballyloughane to City Centre Gre-

enway, Salmonweir Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge leading to the Cathe-

dral, Silverstrand to City Centre Walking/Cycleway, Eglington Canal Cycle

Scheme, Wolftone Pedestrian Bridge, Parkmore - Pedestrian and Cycle

Links, City Centre Parklets and the Clifden Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge on

the old railway line over the Corrib.

RURAL GALWAY

Plans are afoot to unite Galway City and County Councils. It is not clear if

this is a good idea. Certainly sprawl from the City needs to be addressed

in an integrated way.

Beautiful Ballinasloe, under pressure

Proposed Salmon Weir Pedestrian Bridge

20 years ago 60-70% of housing in rural Galway was built one-o in the

countryside. A Housing Demand Assessment in the draft County Council

plan states that the percentage of one-o housing units relative to the

overall number of housing units permitted for the period 2015-2019 was

40%.

The secret to planning in Galway is that there is no appetite to change

this, even in the Green Party. The HNDA extrapolates that if that trend

continues for the life of the forthcoming plan that would equate to al-

most 4,400 single one-o houses in the open countryside. Applying an

average household size of 2.5, this would equate to 11,000 out of the

stated 18,655 population growth envisaged by the plan. That needed to

be curtailed.

The draft Galway County development plan 2022-2028 seeks to sup-

port rural villages as a sustainable approach to maintaining the rural

economy and population and as a viable alternative to one-o housing

in the open countryside. However, the Oce of the Planning Regulator

(OPR) has expressed concern that a blanket approach to the inclusion of

rural villages of signiﬁcantly dierent size, scale and function may under-

mine or dilute the overarching policy intention to support rural villages.

The Oce considers that further consideration should be given to iden-

tify larger rural villages with capacity to absorb development, and to sup-

port rural regeneration within these areas.

In December 2021 the OPR, though overall pleased with the town’s

proposed local area plan, expressed concern that Ballinasloe was over

ambitious in its population targets for the near term. Presumably it would

be better if that development actually took place in Galway City. The OPR

considered the town’s plan was not providing for enough development in

the actual town. Accordingly, it recommended including “an objective to

deliver a minimum of 30% of residential units within the existing built up

footprint and provide for the monitoring of same”.

THE FUTURE

GALWAY CITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN

A new draft City Development Plan is being prepared at a crucial time

following the preparation of the National Planning Framework (NPF) and

the NWRA Regional Assembly Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy

July 2022 61

(RSES), which seek to promote the rebalancing of regional development

in a sustainable manner. The NPF recognises Galway as one of four cit-

ies (with Limerick, Cork and Waterford) that can grow signiﬁcantly and

that together, these cities and their regions have potential to be viable

alternatives to Dublin.

The Galway Metropolitan Area Strategic Plan (MASP) is a new 12-year

strategic planning framework for the city and its environs. The MASP

area includes Galway City and its environs and the county settlements

of Bearna, Oranmore and Baile Chláir. The requirement to have a MASP

recognises the interrelationship between the city and the surrounding

area and the need to co-ordinate the dierent plans and projects which

straddle both administrative boundaries.

The MASP identiﬁes key infrastructure, services and facilities that will be

required to support sustainable city growth and regeneration. It sets out

how the NPF population targets can be met in accordance with the prin-

ciples of sustainable development with the aim to deliver compact growth.

The population targets set out in the MASP are for the Galway MASP area to

grow by 27,500 before 2026 and by a further 14,500 before 2031.

A key sustainability element of the RSES and MASP is to deliver growth

in a compact form with an objective to locate at least half of all new

homes that are targeted, within the city footprint of the MASP. The MASP

supports the redevelopment of key regeneration/brownﬁeld sites in the

city and that these sites would support 40% of those homes within the

city development envelope.

The existing core strategy sets out a co-ordinated settlement strategy

for the city which is to develop existing undeveloped residential zoned

lands mainly located in Knocknacarra, Rahoon and Castlegar; to develop

the east side of the city on zoned lands in the Ardaun LAP area which is a

nationally designated Major Urban Housing Delivery Site and to focus on

the growth of designated regeneration areas – Ceannt Station, Inner Har-

bour and the Headford Road area. These designated regeneration sites

have scope for a signiﬁcant quantum of residential development that can

in particular, meet the needs for evolving smaller household sizes.

Additional regeneration sites are likely to include lands at Sandy Road

(including city council owned lands) and along the Dyke Road (city coun-

cil car park). Both of these sites have potential to accommodate signiﬁ-

cant residential led mixed use schemes. The potential development of

these sites is being progressed by the Galway City Council in collabora-

tion with the Land Development Agency.

The plan will be prepared in the context of new national and regional

planning frameworks, namely the National Planning Framework (NPF)

and the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy (RSES). These docu-

ments designate Galway and the metropolitan area as a Regional City

which has the potential for signiﬁcant population and economic growth

through focused investment.

POPULATION TARGET

The NPF targets the population of the city to growby between 40,000 and

45,000 people by 2040 which isan increase of almost 55%. That is worth

dwelling on because it is almost in itself an unsustainable growth rate

for anywhere, though probably still not inappropriate for a country with

Ireland’s demographics and projected immigration. The NPF also targets

half of the homes to accommodate this population increase to be located

within the existing built footprint, though that is under-ambitious.

URBAN-LED ASPIRATIONS

In particular, the plan-led approach to the key development areas within

Galway metropolitan area demonstrates the City Council’s commitment

to an urban-design-led approach to provide vision for new growth areas.

If enforced this will provide solid foundations for the development of the

City, county and region.

Likewise, the provision of concise policies, land-use maps and iden-

tiﬁcation of opportunity sites for a signiﬁcant proportion of the county’s

smaller towns and rural villages, will support the National Strategic Ob-

jective for strengthening rural economies and communities.

Reﬂecting recognition of an age-old weakness for developer-led and

one-o housing, the Oce of the Planning Regulator has identiﬁed a

number of areas which require further consideration in order to more

fully align the development framework for the county within the current

national policy context. In particular, the population and housing targets

in the draft Plan are not consistent with the Housing Supply Target Meth-

odology for Development Planning, Guidelines for Planning Authorities

(2020) and must be reviewed.

Likewise, further co-ordination of the objectives of the plan with Gal-

way City Council will also be required, particularly with regard to the de-

livery and prioritisation of infrastructure and the integration of land use

and transportation. This co-ordination will be fundamental to achieving

compact growth, avoiding suburban sprawl along the fringes of the City

boundary, and providing a sustainable settlement and transportation

strategy for the metropolitan area.

The City Council is also required to address climate change, the deﬁni-

tion of appropriate settlement boundaries, the zoning of lands for spe-

ciﬁc uses and the establishment of guiding policies for smaller towns and

settlements.

LESSONS

The conundrum in Galway is typical of the challenges facing towns and

cities around Ireland. A spiral of decline has led to families living further

out of town and commuting in by car. Much of the town centre is left to

a transitory population of students and temporary workers who have not

the clout or commitment to improve the area that they live in. More park-

ing is then required which consumes the space that could be given to

other uses such as parks, playgrounds or markets. One way of breaking

this vicious circle is for Councils and citizens to come up with a vision

for what improvements it might be possible to achieve in the short to

medium term. For example the people of Wood Quay have yet to agree

on the common vision for the future of their area, but the work with the

Council, the area’s residents and the students from the University of Lim-

erick appears promising.

Overall the best view is that of Roddy Mannion in his book ‘Galway: a

sense of Place’. He argues that in the challenging years ahead Galway

needs to rediscover its European roots and allow its cultural creativity

and celebratory urban life to extend and envelop the entire living city,

and not just the perceived city at its historic heart.

Equally Galway needs to shift its mentality from suburban and car-

borne to urban and sustainable.

Galway City and Galway County were within living memory among the

most beautiful and charming places on earth.

Galway needs to preserve what’s left of its countryside, densify its

city centre for aordable housing in ﬁrst-rate mixed-use developments

served by light rail and rapid buses, cycleways and pedestrian routes.

For a proud, creative and dynamic European city it needs to re-estab-

lish a European and sustainable heart.

jsdjh fjdhfkjdhfkjds kfjhkdjfhkjdshfkj sdfhkjs

dfgsd fhgsd fgsdhf g jsdjh fjdhfkjdhfkjds

kfjhkdjfhkjdshfkj sdfhkjs dfgsd fhgsd fgsdhf

g jsdjh fjdhfkjdhfkjds kfjhkdjfhkjdshfkj

sdfhkjs dfgsd fhgsd fgsdhf g jsdjh

fjdhfkjdhfkjds kfjhkdjfhkjdshfkj sdfhkjs