The promoters of a proposed £60 million private hospital for Galway have abandoned their plans for development after it narrowly failed to obtain sufficient support at a Galway Corporation meeting this week.
Councillors voted by 10-2 in favour of the project, with two abstentions, but the plan needed the support of 11 members - or three-quarters of the 15-member local authority - as it constituted a material contravention of the City Development Plan.
Yesterday, one of the main backers of the project, Mr Jim Fahy, confirmed that the promoters had scrapped their plans to locate the "Blackrock Clinic"-style development in Galway.
"A lot of work had gone into this and we cannot go back and repeat what we have done," said Mr Fahy.
The hospital would have provided specialist services in areas such as cancer care, and many private patients from the west would have been saved the journey to Dublin for treatment.
One of the main promoters, Mr James Sheehan of the Blackrock Clinic, made it clear last week the project would be scrapped if it failed to get the required backing of the corporation. He declined to comment further on the vote yesterday.
"I will not be pushing it further if the democratically elected representatives turn it down," he said last week. "I have made it clear that there is not an alternative site and, if it was turned down by the councillors, I will not be resubmitting a fresh application."
Following a heated debate on Monday night, five Fianna Fail members, four PDs and one Fine Gael member of the local authority voted in favour, with the two Labour members voting against and two Fine Gael councillors abstaining.
The proposed 12-acre site at Doughiska, was zoned for agricultural purposes two years ago and required a material contravention of the plan if the hospital proposals were to be approved.