Councillors launch stinging attack on 2020 management

Concerns over Galway’s preparedness – or lack of it – for the 2020 European Capital of Culture extravaganza were aired in public this week with a number of councillors launching stinging attacks on the company charged with getting the city and county ready for the event.

The departure of the event’s Artistic Director, the so-called ‘botched appointment’ of a Business Engagement Director, fundraising shortfalls, serious communications failures and a lack of connectivity with local communities, were issues raised by councillors at special City Council meeting on Tuesday evening.

However, a number of city councillors also called on their colleagues to adopt a more positive approach to the 2020 event – costing a projected €45.75 million – saying that there was ample time over the next 18 months for the city to ‘catch up’ on any preparation shortfalls that had emerged.

City Council Chief Executive, Brendan McGrath, said that he had ‘complete and utter confidence in the Board [of the 2020 company] to deliver a world class event to the city that would do Galway and Ireland proud’.

“Yes, we are behind [in the preparations] and I do feel that this democratic body [the City Council] is entitled to ask questions on any issues arising. But this will be a remarkable event for Galway and it will leave a positive legacy for many years after,” said Brendan McGrath.

The often tetchy single item agenda meeting – called to bring out into the open concerns over Galway’s readiness to host the 2020 European Capital of Culture event – lasted for nearly four hours, ending with the taking of confidence motions in the company tasked with preparing the city and county for the event.

The two confidence motions – with slightly different wordings – were eventually passed by the City Council on margins of 14-3 and 13-4, after councillors received reassurances that they would now be receiving detailed quarterly progress reports on the 2020 preparations.

Fine Gael councillor, Pádraig Conneely and Fianna Fáil councillor, Ollie Crowe delivered the most trenchant criticisms of the company charged with ‘delivering’ the 2020 event to the city and county – the Galway Cultural Development and Activity Co. Ltd, chaired by Aideen McGinley with Hannah Kiely the Chief Executive Officer.

Both Aideen McGinley and Hannah Kiely addressed the meeting, saying that already a huge amount of background work had gone into the 2020 preparations with the Action Plan Phase now coming up.

Fermanagh native Aideen McGinley – who has worked for 37 years in local and central government in Northern Ireland – said that the 2020 event would bring in an estimated one million extra visitors to Galway during its staging.

“We all need to get an oar to row this boat. This will put Galway on a new international platform as regards jobs, infrastructure, tourism and culture,” she said.
For extensive coverage of the special 2020 meeting, 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.