Galway County Council should disperse Galway 2020 legacy funding to municipal districts, according to Independent councillor Tim Broderick.
His call comes as the local authority was discussing its financial reports on the accounts of the council for this year where the chamber was told there could be a deficit of €1 million due to the Covid-19 crisis.
He said; “There is quite a substantial amount of money invested in Galway 2020 and as a member of Galway County Council, I would like to know the financial implications.
“The funding element [of Galway 2020], I was quite opposed to it as I believed we wouldn’t get value for our buck. As it transpires [we now have] a reduced programme. What is the projected financial return from [Galway] 2020? I think we should disperse the €500,000 between municipal districts.”
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In response to Cllr Broderick’s comments county CEO Kevin Kelly told the chamber that an arrangement was in place for an analysis of Galway 2020.
He said; “The figures for return economically will be significantly different to what was anticipated. The Minister [Catherine Martin] has approved monies for the revised programme which will take place between September this year and March next year. Some of the programme will be different and some of it may be online. The analysis will be done later on.”
Mr Kelly also revealed funding that was already paid out by the council was for events that had taken place and there were no plans for additional payments currently.
The European Capital of Culture project’s programme has fallen foul of the Covid-19 pandemic and will have a greatly reduced book of events when it is hoped it can be relaunched in September.
