Galway City Hall ‘sale sign’ was just Chinese whispers!

Bradley Bytes – a sort of political column with Dara Bradley

Do you remember the game Chinese whispers? You’d have children in a line or circle. The first player would recount a story to the next in line. The story was then repeated to the next in line and so on. The story changed slightly with every telling and what you ended up with was something far different to the tale that they’d started off with.

Something similar happened among city councillors recently, when a number of elected members circulated inaccurate information that City Hall was being put up for sale. The story also alleged that Galway City Council workers were going to be transferred to new offices at the Crown site in Mervue.

As with all rumours, there was a grain of truth to it. But like with the game of Chinese whispers, the actual story got distorted in the repeated telling.

So for clarity, we’ve checked with the head honcho at College Road, Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, who categorically ruled out any suggestion that City Hall was for sale.

He told us that the local authority “has not made any decision to sell (or) vacate” City Hall, “and we have not examined such an option”.

But councillors weren’t completely off the mark. And Brendan McGrath is looking out for office space to rent. That’s not because he’s planning to sell the existing building, but because he plans to hire more staff next year, fully funded through the Council’s recently adopted Budget for 2022.

McGrath also expects extra staff to be funded by Government, in the areas of housing, active travel and climate action.

There are two more reasons why the Council needs more space and is looking for offices of between 10,000 square feet and 15,000 square feet.

One relates to Covid-19 – the restrictions have shrunk office space in the existing building by about 15%. And McGrath told us that he is planning to bring existing staff from satellite offices into a single location and there isn’t enough space for this in City Hall.

The rumour that the new building will be in Mervue is not solid either.

“All available office accommodation options for this space are presently being examined and no decisions have yet been made as to where that space might be. When a location is determined, it will be decided on the basis of a business case that will present the most economic advantageous outcome for the City Council,” he said.

He hopes to have a new office sourced by the middle of 2022.

As for the insistence of sources close to the rumour, that valuers had visited the building with a view to estimating a price to bring City Hall to market, McGrath said there was a simple explanation for this.

“We regularly update values of our corporate estate both for fire and insurance purposes and also for asset value purposes under our Annual Financial Statement.  We recently procured valuations for fire/insurance purposes only for a number of City Council-owned premises, including City Hall,” McGrath told us.

So, to recap. City Hall is not for sale – those estate agents were valuing the property for insurance purposes – but the Council is in the market for new office space for existing and new extra staff. And you’ve heard it here first, from the horse’s mouth!

This is a shortened preview version of Bradley Bytes. To read more, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.