The future of the Pálás cinema should be decided by Galway City Council before Christmas after several interested parties pitched their proposals last week.
By December this year, the €8.4 million tax-payer funded, purpose-built cinema building will have been without an operator for 22 months in Galway – one of only 30 cities worldwide to be designated a UNESCO City of Film.
A panel of senior tourism and economic development officials in City Hall reviewed final proposals from potential operators last week, under a statutory process to offer a long lease, without charge, to an entity which can fulfil a number of financial, governance, environmental and cultural requirements for the five-storey, council-owned building. Expressions of interest were advertised in July.
Opened in 2018, after a 12-year campaign to secure public funding, the three-screen picture house closed in February, 2025, when its operator, Lighthouse Cinema, backed by Oscar-winning production outfit Element Pictures, said €1.8 million losses over seven years made it uneconomic.
An independent, Dublin-based cinema firm did secure agreement from the city council to run Pálás earlier this year, after submitting a convincing business case, but withdrew in April, citing price inflation for its refurbishment.
It is understood fewer than 10 expressions of interest were pitched to city officials last week, in a process governed by Section 183 of the 2001 Local Government Act.
This legislation charges the city manager to recommend either a short-list of potential lessees, or a single, preferred bidder, to be decided upon by a vote of all 18 city councillors. This vote is expected to be held in December, if outline legal agreements can be drawn-up with qualifying bidders on time.
It is understood proposals ranged from running the Pálás as a cinema or partial cinema, repurposing the building for tourist purposes, such as a giant ‘escape rooms’ complex, or re-configuring the property for shared office facilities for creative companies, with some community space set aside.
One proposal is dedicating the building as a homage to John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, with constant re-runs of The Quiet Man. Another suggested an Aran sweater shop, while one idea is to repurpose the tall, concrete structure as a city grain store.
The Galway City Council confirmed it received no formal approach from the Courts Service under its current expressions of interest procedure to use Pálás as a court house.
Local interest
Most of the proposals, it is understood, came from entities with a local, West of Ireland link, although at least one came from outside the region.
Two separate bids from Galway city-based businesses aim to retain the cinema aspect of the purpose-built building, which netted its architect, Tom dePaor, a prize at the 2018 World Architecture Festival.
Lóchrann Group is fronted by Colin Barry of Brite, the EV charging point operator (formerly of Motorpark/Barry Motors ) who has experience in film production and concert promotion.
Lóchrann’s aim is to retain Pálás as a three-screen, arthouse cinema, with bar and restaurant, and a ‘Pálás Academy’ talent school for screen writing, cinematography and acting. Hollywood cinematographer Michael McDonough, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the home of the Oscars, will be the school’s director.
Lóchrann Group says it has secured partnerships with the independent Watershed cinema complex in Bristol, and with an established Galway-based restaurant company to run a bakery and brunch café on the Pálás’ groundfloor, with a restaurant offering early-evening theatre menus.
Its business plan proposes employing between 10 and 20 staff to run 351 screenings per year, with a lower cost base, and improved hospitality arrangements, to overcome the issues of previous operators.
Kevin Healy, of the Galway Comedy Festival, is fronting a bid backed by “the Róisín Dubh lads” understood to include input from Simon Heaslip, Eoghan ‘Guigai’ MacNamara, Greg Healy, Niall Horisk and others.
Their plan is for a late-night music and comedy/cultural venue which retains at least one cinema for film screenings.
Healy says the Galway Comedy Festival took over Pálás last year, and will do so again this weekend for its 20th outing.
His concept is to run the building’s first-floor bar to serve three distinct venues, and make “small tweaks” to offer creative and performance spaces for stage acts relevant to a range of possible users, such as the Film Fleadh, Galway International Arts Festival, Babaro, Cúirt and others.
The ground floor, previously a restaurant and kitchen, would become a lobby, potentially with box office, merch stalls, meeting space, coffee counter and beer garden.
“I’m not a restauranteur,” says Healy. “I’m in event management. We got a feel for this place last year, and we want to run this long-term. Regardless who gets it: Galway can’t afford to lose another arts space,” he says.
