City Hall has been accused of “pleading the poor mouth” for stating it does not have enough money for a replica statue of Padraic Ó Conaire in Eyre Square.
The accusation was levelled at City Hall by Green Party senator Niall Ó Brolcháin, who went on to accuse the local authority of “reneging on its commitment” to put up a life size replica of the famous statue as part of the Eyre Square redevelopment.
The original state is now housed at the Galway City Museum but Sen Ó Brolcháin believes the Galway City Council has the money to produce a replica.
“Money was made available from the Government for the replica statue as part of the multi-million euro overhaul of Eyre Square,” he said. “I want to ask the council where has this money gone? Finance was made available and now they are saying there is no money for it.”
The Green Party senator has also questioned why money was made available for a statue for the City of Chicago, when Galway was left without the promised replica of Padraic O Conaire.
“As then Mayor of Galway, I was invited to Chicago to unveil a statue bought and paid for by the city council,” he said. “This was paid for out of the public purse. This was at the same time that we were promised the replica Padraic Ó Conaire statue for Eyre Square
