2020 chief to address concerns before Galway City Council
Galway 2020 CEO Hannah Kiely has been invited to give Galway City Council an update on the status of the project, after serious concerns were raised in recent weeks.
She will appear before a specially-convened meeting on Tuesday evening to discuss what one former mayor has described as a “confidence crisis” at the heart of 2020 following the resignation of Artistic Director Chris Baldwin after 10 months in the job, and the failure to recruit a Business Engagement Director, a role understood to involve raising €7 million in private sector funding.
Ms Kiely, who is out of the country on business this week, had already accepted an invitation from Councillor Pádraig Conneely, Chair of the Strategic Policy Committee on Recreation, Amenity and Culture to attend an SPC meeting next Tuesday evening.
But last week, councillors voted to hold a special meeting of the City Council – replacing the SPC meeting – on the basis that democracy would be best served with a full meeting of members.
Cllr Conneely warned his fellow councillors against the vote saying they were interfering with the statutory rights of the SPC. He said he had worked hard pinning Ms Kiely down to a date which suited her to attend the meeting.
Cllr Donal Lyons, who proposed Ms Kiely would be invited to give the Council an update, reminded the meeting that when they had financially supported the bid, a commitment had been given that the local authority would get regular updates.
As that hadn’t happened, and Galway 2020 had recently lost their Artistic Director, he said the Council was due an update.
Cllr Conneely agreed, adding that he would extend an invite to all city councillors and senior executives to the SPC, which also has non-elected members representing various sections of the community.
Outgoing Mayor of Galway, Cllr Pearce Flannery stressed it should be a full council meeting, not just an SPC.
Cllr Niall McNelis said Galway 2020 was funded by public money and that the issue justified holding a special meeting of the council to hear an update from its CEO.
Cllr Mark Lohan said that following Tuesday’s meeting, Galway 2020 should give quarterly updates to the Council to keep councillors in the loop.
Galway 2020 had faded in the minds of the public, said Cllr Mike Cubbard. Cllr Mike Crowe also wanted to hear a general overview of how preparations for the event, which will see Galway as European City of Culture that year, were progressing.
Councillors voted 9 to 7 (two were absent) to replace tomorrow's (Tuesday) SPC meeting with a full special meeting of the City Council.