Market organiser says Eyre Square damage due to poor drainage

If the Continental Christmas market is to continue into the future it must return in full to Eyre Square – and for a reduced fee, insists the event organiser.

Maria Moynihan Lee has also pointed to the lack of damage caused to the grass in the Spanish Arch as evidence that the annual poor condition of the grass in Eyre Square after the traders pull out is due to the lax drainage.

The market’s most vocal critic, Cllr Padraig Conneely, this week voiced his outrage at what he has labelled the worst damage yet in the six years it has been operating, calling for a complete rethink of how the event is run.

”It didn’t look the part, it’s time to completely review it – it’s just lost its impact, it’s in no way a Continental Market,” he said.

Ms Moynihan Lee of Milestone Inventive, which manages the event under licence from the Galway City Business Association, said even with the much reduced size of the market to minimise the damage to the grass, the same areas at the Meyrick Hotel side of the park suffered due to the poor drainage

“We have started working on it already. We are trying to drain the water that’s there, create some outlet for it to go by boring holes but as usual we’ve only found sand beneath a very thin layer of grass.

For more on the damage to Eyre Square and the Continental Market, see this week’s Galway City Tribune