Insanity can be defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Today, Thursday the 8th of April 2026, the Galway City Ring Road was granted approval by An Coimisiún Pleanála. The timing could not be more ironic: amidst a global fossil fuel crisis and a climate emergency. The current fuel crisis is exposing just how vulnerable our fossil-fuel-reliant transport system truly is. Building more roads will exacerbate this further. Roads don't reduce traffic, they create it. It's induced demand: build it, they will drive. Meanwhile, public and active transport are sidelined.
As a consequence, Irish transport emissions have yet to see a meaningful decrease. This road will lead to more emissions, more inactivity, and more harm to human health. It will lock in carbon and these effects for generations to come. Our response to a planet on fire from climate change and fossil-fuelled conflicts is to pour more concrete on the ground. Irish Doctors for the Environment have, over the years, written numerous statements and letters opposing the ring road. Although it may be sold as a solution, it is not. Decades of road building and car-centric sprawl across the world have shown us that.
The alternatives are clear: a tram system, world-class active travel infrastructure, better rail, and improved bus connections. Galway could become a city that prioritises health for the people and the planet. Instead, politicians and planners seem hellbent on turning it into yet another city surrounded by a massive road. Building more roads on a world on fire is truly an act of insanity.
Our statement on the Galway Ring Road.
Building more roads on a world on fire is truly an act of insanity.
