M6 - Galway City Ring Road [planning decision pending]

Ah yes, the classic exceptionalism clause. Somehow the rules of urban planning don't apply to Galway, a city of only 80,000, therefore the law of divil may care applies.

Ourense in Galicia, Newcastle or Nantes are comparable to Galway and still get it right. What makes Galway so different?

You're clueless. Read more and do some travelling because your mentality is why Galway and urbanisation in Ireland generally is such a complete cod.

As above, there are 4 crossings of the River Corrib in Galway. Please read more, explore more, broaden your mindset and, most importantly, know your facts before mouthing off anymore meandering buinneach.

I don't live in Galway for a reason. It's dysfunctional and I have no desire to waste my life in a dysfunctional city whose inhabitants can't even accept what they need to do to make it a half decent place to live in. There's a reason why so many leave after college and never return. There are plenty of jobs in Galway but nobody wants to return there, having lived in normal cities that actually operate functionally. Try convincing those who've left to London, Sydney and Europe or even Dublin to return to Galway. The only reason people return is because they want to be close to their family. There is absolutely nothing else to draw them back only a property market on steroids and traffic.

Galwegians have a massive chip on their shoulder when it comes to accepting criticism. It's fine for ye to complain about the place but dare any outsider say anything. Here's the truth: Your beloved bypass will distribute cars for a few years and then it'll become the M50. You're all up in a heap about bridges. There is no railway bridge crossing of the Corrib either. Where's the hysteria over that? Time ye grew a pair, wise up to your problems and deal with them rather than shutting down anybody who breaks your very fragile ego.

Nah, it's really amusing to see the people who supposedly live in, work in and apparently love Galway doing their damndest to make the city uninhabitable. Sad, obviously because there's so much potential being wasted, but amusing nonetheless that such blind ignorance and stupidity will actually form the basis of public policy there for years to come.

Spare me this insular crap about Galway's "unique geographical location". It's a seaside city of 80,000 with a river, and a lake some 6 kms to the north. There's nothing unique about that. There's no reason why it doesn't have bus lanes, cycle lanes and a dense urban environment except that it was deliberate policy over nearly 50 years to ignore that in favour of car dependancy, urban sprawl and utter dysfunction. You want to prolong that by distributing cars around the city without addressing things that should be done now such as ending urban sprawl, building park and ride facilities and making the best use of existing space. The bypass is not going to solve the fundamental problem that too many people are driving to Galway in the first place. It won't solve the traffic in Claregalway, Headford and South Connemara and it won't solve traffic in Galway when it eventually morphs into the M50.

Please read more, for your own sake.

You just can't take any kind of constructive criticism, can you? I'm entitled to my opinions and they're based on lived experience, not perception.

Yes, there is a gay scene in Galway. I'm very familiar with it, thanks very much. It's minimal and the number of gay people in Galway is minimal. I'm basing that off lived reality and the fact I've lived in cities that have way more to offer for LGBTQ people purely in terms of numbers and the fact they provide the kind of urban environment conducive to a lively gay culture: a dense urban core, mass public transit, affordable housing and a lively public realm free of traffic.

It's really not my problem that those in public policy, politicians and all you champions of a car dependant culture can't see past your very narrow lived reality and a mentality that ends a few miles from where you live. Unfortunately though, we all bear the brunt of this mindset because young people eventually become disillusioned and emigrate, while the same dinosaurs who have led us to this point perpetuate existing problems indefinitely.

When some amadán decided to make a smart, irrelevant comment about me having an imaginary missus who left me to move to Galway (absolutely ridiculous fairytale), that's when it became relevant.

The Greens are about 18 months in government. I'm not in the Greens and disagree with a lot of their policies. However, the housing crisis started 5 years ago and the crisis in affordable and social housing dates back to decisions taken in the 90s. Your constant attempts to gaslight anyone who advocates for an alternative to the ring road are fooling nobody. FFG have ruled this country for 100 years. Galway's car dependent culture are not the product of the under 30s or the Greens. They're the product of amateurs in planning and brown envelopes trying to imitate rural life in an urban environment. You and your ilk are why Galway and this country is screwing the youth and encouraging emigration, at a time of record employment.

Not once have you addressed the core problem I highlighted which is that too many cars are driving into Galway. You just ignore easy solutions like park and ride with mindless crap about being woke. It's not woke. It's how normal cities function but you have 0 lived experience of this.

You just blather on this thread with lies and nonsense, such as lying that I commented against the Athenry data centre.

Whether or not you get your bypass, it won't take cars out of Galway. Enjoy it because it probably gives meaning to your life to waste it in a car.

Now I'm being lectured on my lived experience of Galway's gay scene. Nope, you don't get to superimpose your biases on my experience and that of anyone who's like me to sustain your PR campaign for Galway. I live the reality of what it's like to be gay in the West, you don't. Just because there's a very small pride parade, one gay bar, a few elected openly LGBTQ reps and societal acceptance does not mean that Galway is a great place for gay people to live in. It isn't if you're single and over 23 because there are **** all *openly* gay people there. It's that simple.

All those gay events you mentioned wouldn't exist if it weren't for students. If you're a gay student in Galway, yes it's a decent place to be. If you're in your 20s or older, no it's actually fairly abysmal tbh because the numbers simply aren't there. If you want a lifestyle that involves sifting through hundreds of blank profiles of closeted married men on Grindr, Galway (and the West by extension) is the place for you.

I have gay friends who live there and I've been there dozens of times myself. They/we head to Dublin every 2nd weekend or so for a gay life. You aren't part of this reality, so you haven't a clue.

Stick to the topic. What's wrong with providing park and ride facilities now and laying on extra trains now, rather than waiting X years for a bypass that may or may not ever be built?