Film company to set up operation at former airport

By Declan Tierney

The two massive hangars at Galway Airport will now be leased out for movie productions on an 11-month contract – it is expected that a Film and TV production company will take up residence over the coming months.

The 115-acre site is now owned jointly by Galway County Council and Galway City Council and has been costing both local authorities a considerable amount of money in securing and maintaining the facility.

It is hoped that the owners of private planes for leisure use will continue to be accommodated – despite some reservations that they may interfere with film production.

CEO of Galway County Council revealed on Wednesday that there was now an arrangement in place for the occupancy of the two hangars.

Mr Kelly said that now that a leasing arrangement had been entered into, there would be a regular income from the former airport site while their costs are also expected to reduce considerably.

Since the airport closed to commercial air travel, it was purchased jointly by the two local authorities who were forking out more than €115,000 on an annual basis to maintain the facility.

Claregalway’s Cllr Jim Cuddy said at Wednesday’s Galway County Council meeting that it was a relief that something substantial was going into the airport after all of the speculation over the past few years since it closed. He said that it could be the country’s new Ardmore Studios.

For more on the film studios story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune