Residents get a say after silent protest

Galway City Council has finally agreed to meet with long-fighting local activists after they gathered around the new Ballinfoile Community Centre on Headford Road in a silent protest last week.

Locals of the Ballinfoile Mór area gathered around with Councillors Catherine Connolly and Mike Cubbard to express their dismay at the Council’s refusal to meet with representatives of the local community to discuss the centre’s proposed management structure as well as to accommodate a visit to the site.

In response to their protest, senior officials from the Galway City Council agreed within hours to meet community representatives to discuss the management of the new facility on Thursday, November 5.

“This is, of course, welcome news as such facilities should serve first and foremost the recreational and community needs of all ages living in the surrounding neighbourhoods,” said Brendan Smith, veteran member of the Ballinfoile RAPID committee.

“Activists in the Ballinfoile Mor area have been lobbying and protesting for a multi-purpose community and sports centre since 1986 which represents probably the longest-running local residents campaign in Ireland during modern times.”

The locals knew indirectly from media reports that the council had been successful in securing special government funding to allow the centre to operate under a local authority, and in turn, public control.

However, no additional funding was granted in order to operate under a local authority and Mr Smith hopes this will be one of the topics discussed during the meeting next month.

“While we welcome the agreement of the central government to recently sanction the hiring by Galway City Council of staff for the community centre, we are amazed that no additional funding was allocated leaving the local authority to try and scrap monies from an already over-stretched budget.”

The centre is long overdue for the people of Ballinfoile who have paid levies on house sales to pay for recreational facilities since the construction of the first housing estate in the area in the late 1970s.

“In our case, we are saddened that generations have been born into and have left our neighbourhood without having ever enjoyed the joys of local indoor sports.

“We feel that it is only right and just that after waiting decades for a facility paid in part by residents’ contributions we should have a key role to play in the management of the centre,” Mr Smith added.