Councillors demand action on rat-infested former hotel

Galway City Council has been urged to “stop pandering” to the Comer Group and take legal action over the derelict Corrib Great Southern Hotel where 14 fire officers recently responded to a fire.

Councillor Ollie Crowe said he believed there were four people actually living in the dilapidated building opposite the GMIT.

He told Galway City Council this week that it was overrun with vermin and was the source of constant fires, which threatened the safety of fire officers who arrived to extinguish them and often had to enter the once four-star hotel.

“It’s a major issue. It’s at the entrance to the city. I believe 14 fire officers to be there on Thursday and 14 fire officers to be there on Saturday. There is an onus on the city to make it safe,” the Fianna Fáil councillor from Bohermore fumed.

His anger was echoed for Cllr Mike Cubbard (Ind), who said the recent blazes were sucking up resources from the rest of the city – three fire engines, ambulances and Gardaí had to respond to the last fire.

“It’s a complete and utter disgrace what’s going on. It’s a terrible waste of resources.”

Fellow Independent Cllr Collette Connolly said the city was very reluctant to add anything to the list of derelict buildings in the city. This was one which should be added.

The Director of Services for Transportation, Recreation, Amenity and Corporate Services, Tom Connell, said the owners of the Corrib Great Southern Hotel fully accepted the property was not in a good state and the site had been placed on the derelict sites register.

A pre-planning meeting had taken place over plans for the site, he told councillors.

City Chief Executive Brendan McGrath agreed that the site was unsightly and unkempt and it was being vandalised by “gurriers”.

He added that it was on the derelict sites register and talks were currently underway between the owners and the planning department.

Cllr Crowe said the CEO should send out a message to the owners, the Comer Property Group.

“Stop pandering to them [the Comers]. It’s not rocket science. It’s about security and people’s lives,” Cllr Crowe exclaimed.

Mr McGrath said he refuted any suggestion he was “pandering”.

“I am not pandering to anyone in relation to the Corrib Great Southern. The property is going through a process. We’re going to establish the value of it and from January 2018 we will start levying a levy, which is up to 3% on the property value.”
For the rest of this story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week’s paper here, or download the app for Android or iPhone.