I know this is some months out of date but how is it possible that one of the most desirable places to live in Ireland, with solid employment opportunities, has some of the worst growth in Ireland over the past 5 years? Must be seriously worrying to the councils.
Yep. The “LOCAL town for LOCAL people” mob getting together with the wider Green movement to stab at the heart of growth in Galway.
Stunting growth is a negative to most people with ideas of growing a family near home & neutrals. But for Localists and Greens, it has its positives
Localists see a restraint on strangers moving in.
Greens see less human activity, which helps with rewilding, less pressure on natural resources & less human waste spoiling the natural area.
It’s in both their interests to gum up & prevent development, especiually when the golden opportunity of a chokepoint bridge system means the lack of outsiders/development can stretch for half a county. Problem for the Greens though, is they don’t like it when the “LOCAL ONLY” crowd then turn around & reject cycle lanes! Oh well…
The Wider Green Movement will talk about the “right” kind of development (PT, active travel, modal shift, ecoablism shoeboxing etc etc), but in the absence of that they want the alternative to be none at all. In most places they can’t enforce that. With the geography of the river, bay and lake, here they can.
I do believe Galway City has the most non-native residents of any City in the entire Country. Sorry to destroy the myth you have about this. But maybe the CSO are fiddling the numbers in your head?
and
https://connachttribune.ie/galway-city-irelands-capital-multi-culture-077/
Happy to be rebutted by census data, but that article is 5 years old. I believe the “3% cross the city” stat is even older. So if both “there are more non natives here” and “the city is not growing at the rate we anticipated” is true, where does that leave us? (That’s not rhetorical. I’m actually asking!)
Where does that leave us. VERY HIGH rents.
https://connachttribune.ie/city-rents-rise-by-157-in-a-decade-687/
City Council is a mess.
They cannot plan to get there "own" Developments over the line. How embarrassing. They have so called professionals planning this stuff
https://connachttribune.ie/councillors-plea-to-bord-pleanala-just%e2%80%88give-us-something-to-build-on-676/
and they cannot get the staff
Its all interlinked by what a mess City Hall is in, but I do not believe that the Galway City people/populace (whatever political persuasion are hostile to strangers moving into the City) The CS0 data is from the last CENSUS shows this - is there any evidence there has been a flight of non-local people from the City since then? No.
City is growing slower than in the past; but really down to the City Executive/Professionals been in such an organisational mess.
Correct. Definitely the biggest impediment to growth in Galway. It's why I often say the place lacks ambition compared to Cork, for example. Leaders in the business community are the only hope of change.
I lived in Galway for 5 years and moved away at the end of 2019. I loved it at the time - I was in my twenties, moved there to do a masters and stayed another four years when I got my first job after college. Had lots of friends living around the city, enjoyed going out etc. As my thirties loomed and I started thinking about where I wanted to settle long term, Galway wasn't all that appealing due to three main reasons:
People from outside of Galway City see it as somewhere people go to college for a few years or as a nice spot to go for a weekend away. Galway hasn't been developed to meet the needs of the average person who wants to build a life somewhere. It's a pity, I would have loved to have stayed there as I have plenty of friends who've decided to stay (for another few years at least) but to be honest, I don't envy them.
I agree. As I said previously I generally visit Galway or Limerick on a 'day trip'. For decades, Galway was the more attractive! There was a buzz about the city and it appeared to be about to develop dramatically. Limerick meanwhile was being left behind. However, there's a significant rejuvenation underway in Limerick City which will take a number of years to bring to fruition but when it does a lot of Galwegians, who have become complacent imo, might be very surprised at how both cities compare.
"A Tale of Two City's"
Galway Councils wants to emulate what Limerick City has done, i.e create a Doughnut City and Limerick Council want to emulate what Galway City has currently - a busy City core. The two will meet somewhere in the middle I reckon - neither are going to be very successful in achieving those outcomes by the looks of it in the short term.
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