#GalwayPort - Galway Bay FM reports that more than 50 submissions - the majority of them supportive - have been made to An Bord Pleanala on proposals for the expansion of Galway Port in the public consultation that closes tomorrow Tuesday 11 March.
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the plans as lodged involve a significant 27 hectare expansion of the port's footprint into Galway Bay, a move seen as "critically important for the economic future of the entire western region" according to Galway Harbour company chief executive Eamon Bradshaw.
The port extension will also see most harbour-related activities relocated from the existing dock area to the new deepwater berths, quays, jetties and yards that are expected to future-proof the port to accommodate larger shipping and cruise liner traffic.
While the notion of reclaiming land from the harbour has sparked some concern among local residents and businesses taking stock after a damaging series of storms and their attendant floods earlier this year, the city's harbourmaster said in January that such flooding will occur more regularly "with or without" the port expansion.