Christmas market to be banished to concrete areas

A Christmas market of sorts is likely to go ahead in the city this year but it now seems certain that it won’t be located in the grass area of Eyre Square.

Serious damage to the lawn area of Eyre Square – that has taken over five months to recover from last year’s Christmas market – has prompted City Council chiefs to come up with a new strategy for this year’s event.

City Council Chief Executive, Brendan McGrath, said this week that while the market did make a huge contribution to the city, it wasn’t something that could be done ‘at any cost’ in relation to damage to the Eyre Square grass area.

“In 2013, untold damage was done to the grass area, and while measures were put in place last year with a view to reducing these types of problems, there was still considerable damage again caused to the grass area,” Mr McGrath told this week’s City Council meeting.

Re-sodding and re-seeding work had to be carried out earlier this year while there was also a problem with weed control in the aftermath of the damage done to the grass area.

However, he said that the City Council were working very closely with the City Centre Business Association to come up with an initiative for this coming season.

He said that they were working on the concept of a ‘Christmas in Galway’ initiative that would be more expansive in nature than the current Christmas market.

“We don’t want to see any damage caused to Eyre Square but we are looking at something that can expand the whole experience of Christmas in the city,” said Mr McGrath.

He said that over the coming months, he would be in a position to come back before the City Council with ‘hard and fast proposals’ for the ‘Galway Christmas experience’.

The Galway City Tribune understands that one of the avenues being explored is that of using the pedestrian zone along by The Skeff’ and the area at the top of the Square – around the fountain – to locate the market element of the Galway Christmas experience.

Mayor of Galway, Cllr Donal Lyons, said that he could see both points of view as regards the location of the Christmas market in Eyre Square.

“There is no question about it – the grass area has suffered serious damage over recent years and it’s now coming into mid-summer before its recovering.

“But the Christmas market has also been a tremendous success and attracts many thousands of people to the city. Our task now is to find a solution that won’t involve damaging the grass area, while still maintaining a viable Christmas market,” said Mayor Lyons.