Council appeals Eyre Square judgement to Supreme Court

Date Published: 13-Jan-2009

GALWAY City Council has lodged a last ditch appeal in the Supreme Court in its ongoing battle against the original Eyre Square contractor.

Last October the Council lost a High Court bid to overturn the findings of an arbitration hearing with Samuel Kingston Construction Ltd, which was accused of abandoning the site in 2005, 17 months after the renovation project began.

Mr Justice Bryan McMahon rejected the legal arguments on all 12 points put forward by the Council that it had acted reasonably towards Kingston when it had withdrawn all sums paid to the company under an acceleration agreement.

Late last year Galway City Manager Joe MacGrath gave the go-ahead to the Council’s legal team to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court. The proceedings, lodged on December 15, could take another year before they are concluded, delaying the start of the second module of the arbitration hearing which will decide what compensation if any is due to Kingston.

Mayor Padraig Conneely is furious that Mr MacGrath failed to inform him and other councillors that yet another…