CITY TRIBUNE
Grant money key to new Galway City ‘cultural district’
Unless Fáilte Ireland stumped up a minimum of €5 million towards the refurbishment and extension of the Galway City Museum into Comerford House and onto the top of the Spanish Arch, the flagship 2020 project would be dead in the water.
That was the prediction by Chief Executive Brendan McGrath, who was responding to concerns by councillors about the €8.3m predicted price tag.
In an update about the planned new ‘cultural tourism district’ around the museum, Mr McGrath said the Council will submit an application for €6m to Fáilte Ireland – a million over what it generally awarded under the Grant Scheme for Large Tourism Projects.
However, the national tourism body had in the past upped its allocation for particular high-profile projects around the country and the Council had already pressed upon Fáilte Ireland officials the need to make an exception here.
The Council would have to make up whatever shortfall there was through the raising of a loan and pay for increased running costs of €300,000 a year.
Senior Executive Officer for capital projects and economic development, Mark O’Donnell, said the cost of the project was significant because of the complexity of the site located beside a national monument – the Spanish Arch – and protected sites such as Comerford House and the River Corrib.
The technology for the planned interactive exhibition spaces was also costly.
“We had a meeting with Fáilte Ireland and they’ve been exceptionally supportive from the beginning. I was very honest, very frank. I said if it’s a lesser amount it’s not going to be viable for us to go ahead with it.”
Cllr Mike Crowe (FF) said he would like to see the figures drilled down about “who’s costing us what”.
“Approaching €9m is a hell of a lot of money for an extension to a museum,” he said.
Cllr Collette Connolly (Ind) queried the ’low-to-medium flood risk’ ascribed to the site, saying she believed it to be a high flooding risk. She also said alarm bells were ringing about the projected cost given the massive cost overruns of the neighbouring arthouse cinema.
However, the project had one councillor dreaming of Bing Crosby returning to sing Galway Bay from the top of the planned Spanish Arch walkway.
“The positivity is oozing out of me,” Cllr Padraig Conneely grinned. “I won’t say anything bad. I’ve been looking for this for 12 years. It’s been delayed for many years and I have to pay dues to Brendan McGrath, he drove this matter forward – I want that noted.”
The Chief Executive said so far the design phase had cost €200,000, of which €150,000 had come from Council coffers.
“Without equivocation, if we get word that Fáilte Ireland aren’t providing at least €5m, the next report I’ll be bringing is to recommend it not go ahead.”
If all went to plan, Mr O’Donnell said the “landmark and exciting project” could be completed by the fourth quarter of 2020 and would need a two-month closure period for the museum, which is the most visited free amenity outside Dublin.
Councillors unanimously gave the green light for the project by approving the ‘part eight’ planning permission.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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