The Chief Executive of Galway County Council has confirmed that he is willing to engage with his city counterparts if they wish to divest themselves of the former airport in Carnmore.

The old Galway Airport is jointly owned by Galway County Council and Galway City Council since it became largely redundant almost ten years ago – and it is back in the news, with plans to turn it into a major concert venue for the summer months creating wildly different reactions from the respective local authorities.

While the County Council has fully backed plans to hold around ten major concerts – including the Waterboys, Pixies, the Wolfe Tones and Fatboy Slim – next summer, the City Council wants that restricted to six, amid fears that the number of concerts held at the Carnmore venue could impact on the Galway International Arts Festival.

However, in a significant move to this week’s meeting of Galway County Council, Chief Executive Liam Conneally said that if his city counterparts want to divest themselves of their share of the property, then he would engage in a conversation with them.

The matter came before this week’s budget meeting of Galway County Council when Cllr Donagh Killilea said that he would be supportive of any move to try and acquire the site.

He said that Galway County Council were in the best position to develop the old airport and had the expertise to do it.

“We are best placed given the projects we have undertaken and there is an appetite for us to take it over,” added Cllr Killilea.

To which the Chief Executive replied: “If the opportunity comes up and the city want to divest themselves of the property, of course that is a conversation we will engage in.”

Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.