Batty solution saves Tuam M17 link

AN OBSTACLE to Tuam being connected to the national motorway network has been removed following a decision to allocate funding for a new home for a colony of Gort bats.[private] €90,000 will go to fit out a derelict house and construct an underground chamber at Coole Park outside Gort, to accommodate the bats which are in the way of the Gort-Tuam M18/17 motorway. The €530 million project is set to begin early in 2011. A contract has been signed with a company to carry out the work at Coole Park which is designed to protect the Lesser Horseshoe Bat. It is hoped the work will be completed in 13 weeks and the motorway project will not be held up as a result. The artificial bat roost will be situated in a Special Area of Conservation (SPC). These matters are taken very seriously. A number of years ago a plan to build a stand-alone Tuam by-pass was scuppered when a local politician raised concerns over the impact on swans nesting near the proposed route.[/private]