Galway environmentalists have turned the heat on one of their TDs, the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Fahey.
As anglers from around the State descended on Eyre Square on Saturday to protest over a new salmon-tagging scheme introduced on January 1st by the Minister, An Taisce's Galway branch criticised him for running a "charm offensive" in his home city. The Galway Cycling Campaign accused him of attacking local democracy.
Mr Fahey rounded in turn last week on what he described as a small group of people holding the city to ransom over the waste-management strategy which has been at the centre of the refuse collection crisis over the past few days.
Galway for a Safe Environment had called on the Minister to clarify his stance on incineration, which it opposes, as part of the controversial Connacht waste-management plan which comes before Galway Corporation again tonight.
The criticisms come a fortnight after visits to Galway by two of Mr Fahey's colleagues, the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Martin, and the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dempsey.
During Mr Dempsey's visit, Mr Fahey used the occasion to highlight some local issues, including traffic problems in the city and the need, as he saw it, for a new roundabout and road-widening measures on the west side.
The Galway Cycling Campaign reacted angrily to his intervention and described it as an attack on local democracy. Several local consultative structures had been established to identify solutions to Galway's transportation needs, including publication of a comprehensive consultancy study, the campaign said, and this included provision of proper public transport.
It described as bizarre his proposal, as a former Minister of State for Health and Children, to replace traffic lights at Rahoon with a roundabout, given that this junction was already a major school crossing with a warden on duty every weekday.
Ireland has the highest child pedestrian death rate in the EU, the campaign says. Removing the traffic signals at Rahoon would leave just one pedestrian crossing between Threadneedle Road and the Quincentennial bridge.
Mr Fahey has argued that residents of Knocknacarra are experiencing severe traffic problems, and he is seeking to expedite road-widening which is already part of a local authority plan.
Galway's An Taisce branch has praised the cycling campaign's intervention, and says it agrees that simply building bigger, wider roads would not solve Galway's growing traffic chaos.
Such serious issues are already the remit of Galway Corporation's series of strategic policy committees, says Mr Derrick Hambleton, the chairman of the branch. "I wonder does the Minister know that the European Commission has recently earmarked £40 million to support cities pioneering development of urban transport? "The European Commission says it wants to encourage competitive alternatives to the use of cars in city centres, and combat the growing congestion and pollution of European cities.
"It is typical of governments, local and national," he adds, "that lazy solutions are being employed to solve the undoubted problem of traffic congestion in places like Galway."
Mr Hambleton is concerned at what he describes as the Minister's "charm offensive" - his recent announcements on the potential for marinas, the Marine Institute relocation, a new library for the Westside, and his support for the fifth bridge over the Corrib.
Mr Hambleton also refers to the Minister's "support" for a multi-storey high-tech tower for Salthill (see report above). Mr Fahey says he is not in a position to express approval for the ambitious project, proposed by Salthill general practitioner Dr Bill Grealish, but is anxious to open a debate on the future of that side of Galway Bay.
"If spreading good news is regarded as a charm offensive, then so be it," sources close to Mr Fahey responded. "Minister Fahey is doing the best he can for Galway, and for the marine and natural resources brief he holds."