Council loses out on funding for youth ‘creative hub’

Galway City Tribune – A vision to turn Lenaboy Castle into a ‘creative hub’ for the city’s children and teenagers has been thrown into disarray over funding fears.

Galway City Council had secured some €1.75 million to advance plans for a cultural centre for young people at the former orphanage at Taylor’s Hill. The transfer of the property is part of the redress scheme agreed nationally by religious orders.

But Council Chief Executive, Brendan McGrath has told councillors that money from the European Regional Development Fund is no longer available.

“The funding . . . was time-limited and is now not available to this project,” Mr McGrath said.

In early September 2017, the Council announced the Sisters of Mercy will transfer St Anne’s Children’s Home to the local authority.

A cash payment of €750,000 was to be included in the deal but agreement couldn’t proceed without ‘due diligence’.

A number of campaigners had called for geo-physical and archaeological surveys of the site to determine whether there was a mass children’s grave on the grounds surrounding the former industrial school known as St Anne’s, similar to the one discovered in Tuam.
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