The oral hearing for the Outer City Bypass was yesterday adjourned for a second time after it emerged that equipment for the simultaneous translation of the hearing into Irish had not arrived. Approximately 60 people were present when the hearing was adjourned.

An Bórd Pleanála is responsible for the conduct of the hearing. A spokesperson from the authority explained: "The equipment had been ordered for today but didn't arrive in time." He declined to comment further.

A spokesperson for Galway County Council said the council had complied with all directives from An Bórd Pleanála in relation to translating documents. The hearing on the controversial bypass had been adjourned in April due to the requirement under planning law that two documents be translated into Irish, as some of the areas to be affected by the proposed bypass are in An Ghaeltacht.

Costs for translating the documents have not been finalised but the figure is believed to be in excess of €60,000. Nobody purchased them from the County Council after they had been translated, and they were not available online.

Galway West TD and Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Eamon O Cuív said yesterday that he was "anxious that the bypass goes ahead as fast as possible".

However, he said that An Bórd Pleanála was correct in taking all the necessary translation measures at this point, as not to do so would leave the issue open to a constitutional challenge at a later stage. "This incidence once again highlights the need for the Official Languages Act ? it was brought in just in time. Without it the vista would be too horrible to contemplate, if people wanted to be obstructive."

The Official Languages Act was introduced by Minister O Cuív in 2003 and says that certain documents including annual reports and public policy proposals must be translated, in accordance with the constitutional status of Irish. The Minister stated yesterday that the Act had limited the number of documents people could request, rather than imposing extra requirements on public bodies.

New objections relating to other documents which hadn't been translated were raised yesterday by solicitor Greg Casey. These issues will be dealt with when the hearing begins today.

Last month the proposed bypass was met with 142 official objections, of which 124 were environmentally orientated. All the objections will be heard during the course of the hearing.

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