Council gave three reasons for axing the plans, including two road safety concerns
13:25, 27 Dec 2025Updated 13:44, 27 Dec 2025
Cill Raine in Moycullen, Connemara(Image: Google Maps Street View)
Galway County Council has refused a major housing and retail development plan for a Connemara town.
Planning permission for a proposed residential and retail development in Maigh Cuilinn (Moycullen) was denied with three reasons given by Galway County Council
The Council’s planners cited potential overdevelopment, issues surrounding road safety, and setting “an undesirable precedent for similar future development” as the outlined their reasoning behind the refusal.
The application, lodged by Limekin Construction, requested approval for 25 residential units and three retail spaces on a plot just off Clifden Road at Cill Ráine (Kilarinny).
The planned development comprised of three blocks ranging from three to five storeys high, each housing apartments and duplex units. Furthermore, block B was slated to incorporate three retail units, supplemented by over 100 bicycle parking spots and 25 car parking spaces.
Currently, the site is home to three dilapidated structures, including an old vehicle repair garage. The application suggested razing these buildings before erecting the new residential blocks.
A similar development proposal for the same location, submitted by the same applicant, was previously sought and rejected in 2022, following a review of several submissions.
A submission from residents of Cill Ráine (Kilarinny) voiced concerns about the lack of an Environmental Impact Assessment, despite claims of past contamination from oil tanks that allegedly led to former occupants leaving the property. They also pointed out what they perceived as a failure on Limekin Construction’s part to disclose how contaminated waste would be handled, especially given the site’s proximity to Killarinny Woods.
The most recent application, lodged in February 2025, received a single submission from Conradh na Gaeilge. The organisation contended that, given the site’s location within the Gaeltacht and Galway County Council’s recognition of Gaeltacht areas in its County Development Plan, there is a duty to prioritise the Irish language in the development.
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Conradh na Gaeilge advocated for a specific number of units to be set aside for Irish-language speakers and for a language assessment to be conducted for each unit, demonstrating a positive impact on the Irish language within the local community, with proficiency at B2 level or higher.
The group also requested that all signage associated with the development be exclusively in Irish.
Galway County Council provided three reasons for denying permission, all related to what it described as the overdevelopment of the western edge of Moycullen. These included concerns about traffic flow, congestion, and road safety.GCC refused the build on three grounds, including that the build would “detract from the visual and residential amenity of the area, as well as setting an undesirable precedent for similar future development, and therefore would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.”
They also highlighted that due to “the absence of adequate carparking provision”, that “development as proposed would endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard, or obstruction of road users, or otherwise, and contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.”
Finally, they cited “further road safety concerns arise with the uncertainty of the proposed public road traffic calming and pedestrian crossing works to the LP-1309 which are considered to lie outside the control of the applicant owing to conflicting red line planning boundaries received on the plans and particulars received, which conflict with the planning unit outlined on the site location map as registered on the planning register.”
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