Around 50 protestors picketed City Hall on College Road, Wednesday evening, as councillors met inside to discuss Galway City Council's contentious rebranding plan.
Since the city’s new, lower-case ‘g’ logo was selected by senior managers, and revealed by the Galway Advertiser two weeks ago, a growing number of Galwegians have demanded the older, capital ‘G’ be retained.
Although Mayor Helen Ogbu had collected the necessary six signatures last week to schedule an emergency session, a 'workshop' on the local authority's new logo was arranged instead, allowing officials to ban journalists from this non-statutory meeting.
Security staff requested the Galway Advertiser leave soon after the meeting commenced, with the sounds of heated exchanges from within the council chamber drifting into the public lobby.
It is understood that as Mayor Ogbu did not specify a specific date on papers she submitted to demand a special meeting, as per the Council's standing orders, this gave the Executive a loophole to deny the application. Instead, a closed session was scheduled, and from what was overheard outside, several councillors, including the mayor, were deeply unhappy with this arrangement.
Outside City Hall, the atmosphere was lighter, with protestors cracking jokes about the "OG 'G'" carved into the wall by City Hall's main entrance.
The original capital G logo was designed in 1984 by the late Jimmy Conneely, who passed away 17 years ago.
His son-in-law, publican Fergus McGinn, addressed the protesters as Gaeilge, saying his rejection of the new logo was prompted by fears of a 15 per cent increase in Commercial Rates, and possibly Local Property Tax (LPT ) hike.
"People are fed up of the waste of money," he said, in relation to €28,000 already spent on a new, lower case logo.
Mr Conneely's daughter, Sínead McGinn, was also present. She said the wider family was "heartbroken" and "upset"
"If my father was here, then yes: he'd be outside with us, waving a big flag,” she said.
The protest was made up of tour guides, publicans, window washers, musicians, funeral directors, graphic artists, former councillors and members of the general public.
The youngest was 7-year-old August Monroe, daughter of publican Gary Monroe, whose tavern on Dominick Street is festooned with ‘Keep The G’ flags. Asked which logo she preferred, she pointed to the older ‘G’ with no coaching from her father.
During the councillors’ workshop meeting, officials released a statement suggesting members should approve a 10 per cent “adjustment” to Local Property Tax, allowing them to fund a €3,1 million footpath repair fund over three years. They estimate this would cost the average homeowner in Galway city an extra €29 per year.
The latest estimates show the hard-pressed local authority will be €6 million in the red next year, with outgoings of 170 million beyond the €164 million it expects in income from Rates, LPT, grants and other income.
Protestors had dissipated by the time councillors were in session. As staff left to go home, a City Hall porter cut down a 'G' flag left tied to railings by protestors. It drifted away, perhaps into history.
