The announcement last Friday regarding the proposed ring road for Galway city whereby An Bord Pleanála stated it will not contest the judicial review of the project is devastating news for the people of Galway. Some national media outlets are reporting the project is now dead in the water. I note the matter is still before the courts and a judge has to make a determination. It is important that we respect the judicial process. The reason I raise this in the Dáil is to ask why it takes so long for a project of this magnitude to go through the planning process. As I stated previously, I was elected to Galway County Council in June 1999. The first project before us at the time was to provide a Galway city outer bypass, as it was called then.

A total of €14.7 million was spent on the initial Galway city outer bypass plan before the project was abandoned after a European court ruling in 2013. Two years after that, Arup was appointed to come up with a new proposal, which was called the N6 Galway city ring road. The outlay to date on the current Galway city ring road project is more than €21.3 million. This means more than €35 million has been spent so far on finding a solution that seems no closer now than it ever was. Technically, we are back to square one after 23 years.

The Taoiseach was in Galway last Friday for a number of engagements and he heard about the importance of the road for inward investment. I was at one such function where this was mentioned. The Taoiseach saw at first hand the chronic traffic the people of Galway city and county deal with on a daily basis. Why does it take so long for these major infrastructural projects to get through the planning process?

An Bord Pleanála has serious questions to answer about why, as it publicly stated, it did not consider the new climate action plan that was passed before this decision was made. The people of Galway will now have to endure chronic traffic congestion for many years to come while we try to find a solution to the traffic situation in Galway. After 23 years and with €35 million spent, what comfort can the Taoiseach give to the people of Galway that this never-ending saga will be brought to an end?

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I understand the genuine disappointment with the latest developments in this project. I was in Galway on Friday and all the engagements regarding the economic development of Galway, including the expansion of Genesys, the expansion of the Galway Technology Centre and the launch of the Irish clinical academic training programme, were very positive. Many people see the N6 Galway city ring road as being essential for the growth and development of Galway, while others disagree. However, with the current number of vehicles on the existing network, Galway is suffering extreme congestion in the city centre and increased journey times, as I have experienced myself. The ring road has the potential to reroute traffic from the city and alleviate capacity constraints. Galway city and county councils issued a joint statement with Transport Infrastructure Ireland on Friday in which they indicated that they are confident the issues can be resolved and, as a result, they intend to continue to progress to the delivery of the road project.

The Galway city ring road is a proposed project to construct an orbital route around Galway from the N6 to the west of Barna, including a new bridge crossing over the River Corrib. The project is a component of the Galway transport strategy. The scheme was submitted to An Bord Pleanála and was approved by the board with conditions on 6 December 2021. Subsequently, three applications for judicial reviews were submitted to the High Court, which imposed a stay on progressing the scheme. An Bord Pleanála has taken the decision not to oppose the judicial review taken by Friends of the Irish Environment against the decision to grant planning permission for the Galway city ring road. The decision on whether to grant an order to quash the 6 December 2021 decision of the board lies with the High Court. An Bord Pleanála has stated it took this decision on the grounds that it did not consider the Government's 2021 climate action plan before deciding to grant permission. The next step will be for all parties to consider their positions in light of this development. There will then be an opportunity to request that the High Court remit the scheme back to An Bord Pleanála. Should the scheme be remitted to An Bord Pleanála, the board will consider whether further information is required to aid its deliberations.

The review of planning legislation is progressing in line with the timeline set out by the Office of the Attorney General, which is leading on the project, and there is extensive engagement with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on it. The work of the review is now moving to the drafting stage. A Bill is expected to be brought to the Government and published by the end of the year. It would be premature to comment on any potential outcomes of the review until it is complete, but one of its key aims will be to put plan-making at the centre of the planning system. It will also focus on bringing increased clarity and streamlining to planning legislation and improving the functioning of the planning system for both practitioners and the general public, given that it is 20 years since its enactment. Public participation, which is a hallmark of the current planning system, will remain a central component of the planning system in the updated legislation.

When the plan for the N6 Galway ring road was first published in 2016, it was proposed that 54 houses be demolished or bought out to facilitate the project if it got the go-ahead. For the past seven and half years, 54 families have been prisoners in their homes. They cannot sell their properties because who would buy a house where there is a proposal to demolish it? There is little point in spending money on improvements. The families were told to sit and wait for seven and a half years. Over the past few years, I have met many of these families who wanted to downsize but could not sell their homes.

Any new planning laws that are brought forward to fast-track major infrastructure projects must take into account family homes due to be demolished. People cannot be left in limbo for years on end. If new planning laws are brought forward, will they include provisions to ensure that homeowners directly affected by any major infrastructural projects will not be prisoners in their houses for years while such projects go through the planning process?

That is difficult. The agencies involved, and all State agencies, have to be very conscious of the predicament families find themselves in when someone makes a declaration that a house will be purchased via CPO or taken over. It causes genuine stress and anxiety. It can also put people into a state of limbo for many years whereby they are not in a position to do anything. That is not satisfactory.

The wider issue is the need to streamline our planning. Day after day, people talk about the crisis in housing and getting infrastructure projects through. The public transport system takes an inordinately long time in terms of getting railway orders and all of that. Offshore wind will be the next big agenda. We are in the middle of an energy crisis. We are trying to get out of fossil fuels as quickly as we can and reduce our dependency on them. The only effective way of reducing our dependency on fossil fuels is offshore wind, on top of onshore wind.

The wind does not blow all the time.

That is the only way we can do it. At the moment, Europe is saying it takes an average of eight years from concept to a wind farm being in position. There has to be an overall public good that triumphs over our individual perspectives and considerations. We have not achieved consensus in this House or society more generally, if we are honest.