Galway arthouse cinema seeks new investor to take over

Galway city’s arthouse cinema has been hit by fresh uncertainty after it emerged yesterday that the company behind the project will require an outside investor to complete the building and run the facility.

Solas, the company behind the Picture Palace, are set to apply to Galway City Council to change the terms of the lease in order to allow a third party to invest in the building and run the cinema for them.

The cinema’s backers will require the support of the members of the local authority to change the terms of the lease at a site which was donated to Solas by the local authority seven years ago.

Galway City Council also agreed to pump €200,000 into the facility last year, a figure which councillors were led to believe would be sufficient to see the cinema up and running by the coming Autumn.

Yesterday, Cllr Michael Crowe (FF) said he would have serious concerns about putting any more money into the project – or changing the terms of the lease at this late stage.

He said the councillors voted to give the site to Solas seven years ago on the basis that the Galway-based company would run the facility for the benefit of the city themselves.

Yesterday, however, City Manager Brendan McGrath told a Corporate Policy Group meeting at City Hall that the Picture Palace would require a “variation” to the lease and an outside investor.

“I have been querying this Picture Palace for a long time,” Cllr Crowe told the Sentinel. “There has been a serious lack of communications between the backers of the project and the elected members of the local authority.

“Now the City Manager tells me that they are looking for a variation to the lease and I would like to know what this means. It seems they are looking to sub-let the building to a third party.”

The Mayor of Galway, Padraig Conneely (FG), pointed out that the City Council had invested an estimated €2m into the project, between donating the site and tranches of funding.

“I am seriously concerned about the future of this project,” he told the Sentinel. “I will be calling on the board of Solas to make a presentation to the City Council to explain what is happening.”

Solas spokesperson Lelia Doolin said yesterday that Galway City Council had been hugely supportive of the project from the outset.

“We are proceeding along our intended path and hoping to go on with the work,” she said. “It will be a great facility for Galway. I would prefer not to comment further for another week or two.”

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel