Galway County Council last week gave the go-ahead for the contentious 'relief road', which is aimed at reducing the amount of traffic through the village of Barna. However, the Pobal Bearna Community Group is vehemently opposed to the plan, and insists the road will become a high-speed commuter route and pose a serious threat to pedestrians in the area.

"The road will be running through a number of new housing estates full of young families and children, " said Sean Murray, PRO for Pobal Bearna. "The council's application has no provision for pedestrian crossings or traffic calming of any sort. They have said that one of the junctions will be 'monitored for increased traffic volumes and accident history'. I would call that a 'maim and kill' clause."

Murray said that, at a recent meeting of Barna residents, the "vast majority of people were totally against the road for safety reasons."

Locals are also concerned that access to the village will now be severely restricted, as three points of access will be reduced to just one.

"We are totally dismayed with the manner in which this decision was made, because it did not reflect the wishes of the people, " said Murray.

"The council made their decision one day after the closing date for submissions, which gave them 24 hours to process 61 submissions from Barna residents. We find that very worrying, and we are considering all options available to us now."

At the county council meeting at which the road was approved, senior planner Catherine McConnell said that the relief road would be used in the short term for commuter traffic but that it would eventually become a village road.