GMIT pulls plug on student gym

The gym in Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) has closed its doors for good because of a lack of financial muscle.

GMIT Students’ Union, which ran the gym on the Dublin Road campus, has confirmed that no more money was made available by the institute to sustain its operating losses.

It closed its doors in mid-July for the last time because of “budget cutbacks and unsustainable losses”.

The closure was made during Summer when students and staff are off, but it has sparked disquiet among the GMIT population who are aware of it. Staff, in emails sent to GMIT management and SU, have raised concerns about the closure.

“It’s sad that we were left with no alternative but to close the facility which we introduced 10 years ago. After budget cuts the last two years and the gym running at a huge deficit, we were forced to make this choice after no more money was made available,” the Students’ Union at GMIT told students.

The SU said that last term the gym had between 350 and 400 members, which included staff members. SU President, Sam O’Neill, confirmed to the Galway City Tribune that the union took the decision to close the gym because it was no longer viable.

“Membership has been declining in the past few years and the losses were unsustainable. In an ideal world we would not be closing the gym but that’s not the reality. Declining membership and increasing losses resulted in us taking this decision,” said Mr O’Neill.

He confirmed talks are underway with private gym operators to ensure that students of GMIT can be offered special deals to use those facilities.

“By the new term in September we expect to have all that in place,” he said.

Mr O’Neill said that despite the hard-working staff of the gym, the equipment had become quite dated and was in need of investment. Though the gym closed its doors last month, many staff and students are unaware of the situation as they are on Summer holidays.

“It was done deliberately when everyone was away so as to minimise the uproar. Students will get a shock when they return in September but by then it will be too late to mobilise and do anything about it,” said one GMIT source.