Minister for local government, James Browne, is yet to receive a request from Galway City Council to approve its €60 million loan to fit out the empty commercial shell it owns in Crown Square.
The local authority purchased Number 3 Crown Square from developer JJ Rhatigan for its new HQ, with a separate, €45 million loan, approved in 2022, although the unfinished building has depreciated by €7 million since.
The minister’s signature is vital in the coming weeks if Galway City Council is to drawdown the first tranche of its historic loan before the annual General Government Deficit (GGD ) limit is breached. This cap on borrowing for local authorities was first imposed during International Monetary Fund (IMF ) restructuring after the 2008 financial crash brought supranational supervision to public borrowing.
“The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has not received any borrowing sanction application from Galway City Council in 2025,” said a spokesman from Minister Browne’s office, who added that a “borrowing sanction application” takes a minimum of six weeks to process.
In July, Galway city councillors approved an application for a 30-year loan from the Housing Finance Agency (HFA ) to pay for an extensive technical, mechanical, structural and final fit-out of their new headquarters in Mervue.
In its loan application to the HFA, Galway City Council requested €60 million to finish Crown Square, renovate Galway City Museum, fund land purchases, and pay for public lighting infrastructure damaged by Storm Éowyn in January.
The council has paid €1.6 million per year since 2022 for the Crown Square purchase loan. With an average 3.3 per cent interest rate, drawdown of the 2025-to-2055 loan will kickstart an annual payment request for more than €3.1 million annually, meaning combined loan repayments will cost the city at least €4.7 million each year, as interest is front-loaded during the early years of these loans.
Council officials say their move from College Road, and cancelling three city centre leases for overflow facilities, avoids a combined cost of €107 million by decanting four existing offices into Crown Square. They calculate refurbishing the 1980s-era City Hall on College Road would cost €68 million, plus a further €38 million for renting temporary offices during renovations.
Councillors must decide to sell, repurpose or redevelop the College Road campus.
Strict borrowing limits
The HFA is essentially a government bank largely funded by European institutions, authorised to lend €118 million to Ireland’s 31 local authorities in 2025, so Galway City’s €60m application alone is more than half its total lending this year. This is a potential political headache for Minister Browne (FF ), as calculations for the government’s Budget 2026, expected next month, are already advanced.
Monies borrowed for the museum will contribute to a new, three-story extension, re-opening Comerford House next door, and remodelling the public space around Spanish Arch. This renovation will cost around €10 million.
Galway City Council’s required land acquisitions are understood to be both voluntary and compulsory purchases vital for widening planned public transport corridors, and for amenity assets, such as land parcels to consolidate the footprint of the long-awaited Kingston Park and Millers Lane Project in Knocknacarra.
Estimates are difficult to deduce, but slivers of land could potentially add up to €5 million across the city. This leaves no loan monies left for the €10m needed to replace possibly unsafe cabling – recently discovered to be uncompliant with modern certification – which connects Galway’s pubic lighting systems.
The greatest proportion of the €60 million loan – potentially up to €45 million – will be for constructing a two-story foyer, horseshoe-shaped council chamber, public engagement facilities with hardwired audio-visual tech, two floors of mostly open-plan office space, coffee docks, mayoral and executive reception rooms, and a staff canteen within Crown Square’s ‘Building Two’ earmarked for Halla na Cathrach Nua.
The four-storey edifice firstly requires finished flooring, internal partitioning, electrics and other services, secondary plumbing, and installation of a state-of-the-art mechanical ventilation and heat recovery (MVHR ) system. Officials told councillors last week they were also considering amended carparking and a secure city archive.
Responding to questions from Councillor Níall McNelis (Lab ) on Monday, at the local authority’s first full session after its summer break, officials confirmed progress on transforming the shell and core of 3 Crown Square as a workplace for 555 council staff has stalled. Managers plan to move in late 2026.
“We can’t do anything further until the minister sanctions the loan,” said Helen Kilroy, head of finance for the council.
Officials declined to break-down the council’s outstanding loan application, intended for the minister’s desk, for fear it would unduly influence price negotiations involving taxpayers’ money, ie reveal to contractors the council’s overall budget for Crown Square.
“In the interest of securing best value for public expenditure and maintaining the integrity of the competitive tendering process, I am not recommending… a breakdown of costs for the loan. This approach is not intended to obscure financial planning; it is a tactical decision to protect the integrity of the procurement process,” Kilroy said in a statement.
