Tower ‘eyesore’ project is dead in the water

By Bernie Ní Fhlatharta

The ‘eyesore’ Fisheries Tower will not be refurbished in time for the Volvo Ocean Race event this Summer after funding was rejected by Fáilte Ireland.

Galway City Council has made no less than six applications to Fáilte Ireland for funding in the hope that the Fisheries Tower on the river and the pedestrian bridge leading into it from Wolfe Tone Bridge would be completely refurbished.

Apparently, the Council had been encouraged to apply to the tourist board, which has a budget for certain projects that would enhance tourism. This seemed to be an ideal solution for a local authority that didn’t have funds to carry out the work itself.

However, Fáilte Ireland specified it hoped that the Tower would be part of a bigger project that would enhance the city’s waterways from Dangan to the Claddagh Basin.

This week, Fáilte Ireland categorically repeated their dissatisfaction with the Council’s proposal, saying it didn’t go far enough in projecting the story of Galway’s waterways.

Councillor Catherine Connolly, Chairwoman of the Natural Environment and Waterways Committee and also a member of the Civic Trust, told the Galway City Tribune that she was gobsmacked at the decision.

“It was Fáilte Ireland themselves who guided the whole application process and, at every step of the way, led the City Council and the Waterways Committee to believe that funding would be available if the application was amended this way or that way to comply with Failte Ireland criteria, initially as a stand-alone project and, subsequently, as part of an overall plan,” she said.

Cllr Connolly said that not only would the iconic building not be refurbished in time for the Volvo event but that it continued to be a dangerous structure because of the deterioration of the bridge.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.