A WEST of Ireland Draught horse breeder who is concerned about the impact of noise and possible flooding of his lands if the Galway ring road is approved has been told that horses “adapt” to motorway traffic noise.

Castlegar stud farm owner Tom Burke is due to lose several acres of his land to the project, which aims to provide an 18km link between the east and west of Galway city.

Mr Burke’s legal representative Kevin Miller told the resumed Bord Pleanála oral hearing on the project – held by video conference this week – that his client had a number of concerns, including impact of noise on the animals.

However, veterinary surgeon Michael Sadlier, representing the N6 ring road project team, said that he had seen horses grazing “right up” to primary routes.

The animals were very “adaptive” and he would have no concerns about noise impact, he said.

Mr Sadlier gave as an example horses he had seen grazing right up to the boundary of the widened M7 motorway which were “very content”.

Loss of stone wall boundaries and replacement with timber fences, which horses could chew, and the risk of flooding were other concerns raised by Mr Burke.

He believed that stone walls were an “important natural feature and habitat for various wildlife, small animals and plants”, and there was a commitment to retain them under Galway city and county development plans.

He said that Galway County Council was proposing to replace the existing stone wall with a timber fence and mesh which was “dangerous for horses”, and was only 1.3 metres high with no shelter.

Mr Sadlier said that while he acknowledged that some horses would “eat and chew fences”, it was “relatively rare”.

The development team said that stone would be provided by the Galway County Council to Mr Burke to replace his walls if he preferred this option.

Racing concerns

Meanwhile, the Galway Race Committee denied it was attempting to “interpose itself” into a supervisory role over construction of the section of N6 ring road route through Ballybrit.

The route involves two tunnels, one of which will run under the Ballybrit racecourse.

Legal representative for the Galway Race Committee Dermot Flanagan told the oral hearing that it supported the N6 project.

However, its main concern was that there would be “certainty” in relation to conditions set as part of planning approval and that a contractor would not seek to make “alternative proposals”.

Galway’s Summer Race Festival is of crucial economic importance to the city and wider region, Mr Peter Kingston of Indecon International Economic Consultants said.

He quoted 2017 figures for attendance of over 137,000 at the seven days of the summer race festival.

Mr Kingston said overall direct expenditure in 2017 was over €15 million, and total direct, indirect and induced impacts were estimated at just under €25 million a year.

Should the summer race festival have to be cancelled, direct economic loss would be almost €15 million euro, or €24.4 million on a regional basis, he said.

He said this translated into €11.3 million of expenditure lost to the Irish economy.

Responding to the issues raised, Ms Eileen McCarthy of Arup Engineering said that there would be no work at Ballybrit during the months of June and July, and a thorough clean up before the summer festival.

The oral hearing is due to continue next week.