Council officials have denied that the Ardaun project is causing difficulties between Galway City and County Councils.

Political representatives in the city and county are at loggerheads on the plans for Ardaun, a new town to be built on the outskirts of Galway city.

However, according to Paul Ridge, Director of Planning with Galway County Council, the debate on Ardaun has not yet begun.

"The situation from an executive point of view is that we jointly commissioned a study with the city council into the development needs of the city and county and how these are to be met. This is almost complete; in two weeks' time it should be presented to councillors.

"The proposal will then open for debate and all the issues mentioned will come up as part of the debate," he said.

Asked if the Ardaun project had damaged the relationship between city and county officials, he said, "No, not at all; we're all great friends."

Tom Connell, Director of Planning with Galway City Council, said the whole concept of Ardaun was still subject to agreement by the members of both councils, adding that the executive decision to decide on a location for the Ardaun town centre had been made merely to facilitate the Gateway funding bid.

"Galway City Council is conscious of the needs and requirements of the county council in relation to the future development of its areas."

However, the same may not be true of city and county councillors, who are already displaying significantly different points of view on the issue.

One city councillor has even called for the city boundary to be extended to encompass the entire development.

Cllr Niall ó Brolcháin told the Galway Independent he believed it was possible for this to be done "without a major review process", as it had been in Limerick, and that "everybody would benefit" from the move, if the right incentives were put in place.