The controversial Galway City Outer Bypass will be delayed indefinitely if an appeal against planning permission is lodged with the European Commission.

Following the recent issue of compulsory purchase orders, the long awaited bypass looked set to be realised after almost a decade of uncertainty.

However, the Galway Advertiser has reported, the entire project could now face an indefinite delay if an appeal to the European Commission is lodged, once An Bord Pleanála makes its decision.

It is hoped that the project will alleviate the city's traffic congestion problem but critics have claimed that it will only serve to increase the amount of cars on the road, as well as have a negative environmental impact on approximately two hectares of limestone in the Menlo area and on the legally protected slender cotton grass plant in the Tonabrocky Bog.

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The Advertiser claims that Frank Fahey, Galway West TD and chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, "is appealing to the National Park and Wildlife Service (NWPS), the National Roads Authority (NRA), and the Galway County Council to work together to avoid any possibility of an appeal to Europe".

The Fianna Fáil TD told the paper that Galway's experience of major infrastructural projects being delayed and stalled is a precedent which must be not be repeated.

He said: "We have had one such experience already in Galway with the waste water treatment plant on Mutton Island.

"We cannot afford such a scenario again and I am appealing to the NPWS and the NRA to ensure this does not happen. If there are any serious delays there will be traffic chaos on the roundabout where both motorways meet the existing dual carriageway at Doughiska adjacent to the Galway Clinic."

(VB/JM)