Sole objector delays plans for Galway Clinic expansion

• Published date: 25 April 2024
• Author: Gordon Deegan
• Publication title: Irish Times: Web Edition Articles (Dublin, Ireland)

Last month, Galway City Council granted planning permission to Mr Goodman's Galway Clinic Doughiska UC for a two-storey extension comprising additional enhanced medical assessment and diagnostic facilities, a new ambulance bay and the removal of 48 car-parking spaces

A planning report lodged with the application, which would extend the footprint of Galway Clinic by 2,050sq m, said the proposed development was expected to increase staff by 20 at the Galway Clinic.

Planning and environmental consultants for the hospital, MKO, said that as the Galway Clinic provided high-quality treatment – especially cardiology and urology treatment – the development would increase the number of people that were able to access necessary healthcare services in Galway and the west of Ireland in a timely and efficient manner.

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However the project is on hold after local resident Dr Sheila Furey lodged an appeal against the grant of permission to An Bord Pleanála.

Dr Furey of Doughiska, Galway, was one of three parties to lodge objections to the proposed extension when the application was before Galway City Council.

The council granted permission after an internal report concluded that the proposal didn't exacerbate the site access issue at the clinic.

In her appeal, Dr Furey states that the grant of permission doesn't adequately address the valid concerns and issues not only in her objection but in the other...