I know of few things which have raised greater passions in recent years than the proposal to build the Galway City Outer By-pass. Countless columns of news and comment have been written about the proposal.

But, despite the objections which have inevitably arisen, and their need for the most careful consideration, I am still of the opinion that the greater good of Galway would be served by the construction of the by-pass.

That is why the speculation in the past week that it may be years before there is a by-pass – or indeed if there will be one at all – is bad news for Galway. If the worst outcome is realised and the by-pass were never to be a reality, then the city is in danger of being condemned to endless years of gridlock.

At the risk of all hell breaking loose in reply to this piece, can I say that the closest controversy to that involving the outer by-pass surely has to be the enormous row which erupted in the city some years ago about the construction of the sewage treatment station at Mutton Island.

The key issue there was the potential damage to the island, a controversy over how the island would ‘look’ after the scheme had been completed, what would be the implications for the Bay, and what would be the implications for the bird-life in the vicinity of Mutton Island.

Eventually, after the most incredibly protracted and oftentimes most heated public disputation, the Mutton Island scheme went ahead. The result was that, certainly, the look of the island changed and changed dramatically ... but Galway Bay got crystal-clear water, we assured ourselves of Blue Flag status, and it is now possible to pass along the Grattan, and the Prom, and scarcely notice the treatment plant which is responsible for the clear waters.

No doubt there are drawbacks which people will point out ... but I would like to pose the question as to whether in ten years’ time, if we got the Outer By-Pass, people would not accept that it had made a dramatic difference to the traffic and general quality of life in the city.

Of course, I have to accept that there would be a sacrifice demanded of some in the line of this new road. It is easy for someone writing in a newspaper to prescribe that others should make sacrifices ... just as it is easy for road planners sitting down at a map table to draw a line on a map and then say how sorry they are for the inevitable impact which what line might have on some. No one likes the disturbance which such major schemes bring about.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.