Galway Co Council CEO and officials hold meetings in Connemara to discuss various issues that have arisen in the past few days

Galway County Council CEO, Liam Conneally and other senior managers from the local authority have met Údarás na Gaeltachta personnel in south Connemara and held a meeting with the Connemara Chamber of Commerce in Clifden to discuss various issues that have arisen west of the Corrib in the past few days.

A visit to Rosaveal Harbour where a €30m development project is in progress was one of the stop-off points for the County Council CEO on his trip with Údarás na Gaeltachta officials in south Connemara. The work at Rosaveal is taking place as a major offshore wind farm is being planned west of Carna; much of the onshore work looks likely to centre on Rosaveal.

Mr Conneally also visited the Páirc na Mara site, a Marine Industries Park in Cill Chiaráin- which has been seen as a key development in west Connemara.

That project was refused planning by Galway County Council, and subsequently by an Bord Pleanála.

Planning permission for local people, and for commercial developments, continued to be a contentious theme when the Council CEO and the planning and housing directors visited north Connemara.

They were told at a meeting with the Connemara Chamber of Commerce in Clifden of intense concern in the area about refusals and difficulties in the planning process.

The Council team cited strict national guidelines as a factor.