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Developers plan to demolish church in Eyre Square revamp
Ambitious plans to develop a new Eyre Square East Quarter – including a new public square, hotel, shops, offices and apartments – will involve the demolition of the ‘newer’ St Patrick’s Church.
The plans also involve the creation of a new public square set around the original St Patrick’s Church, which is now disused.
However, the Diocese of Galway has issued a statement to say that no approach whatsoever has been made by the developers and the Diocese has no plans to “sell, deconsecrate, demolish or move St. Patrick’s Church, the ‘old St. Patrick’s’ Church, the associated parish houses or the adjacent graves”.
In a submission to Galway City Council, the Comer Group and McHale Group – who jointly own more than 30 properties in the block to the east of the Square – say the current church would have to be “re-housed”.
“A suggested masterplan proposes new pedestrian streets in a north-south and east-west configuration through the site to encourage and reinforce linkages with the existing urban grain.
“One of these routes is on the alignment of St Patrick’s Avenue with a new public square created around the original St Patrick’s Church building, which would provide a public/cultural focus for the area.”
Their plans for the 6.5 acres bounded by Prospect Hill, Bóthar Uí hEithir and Forster Street involve the creation of a new East Quarter with ground floor shop units opening out onto a public square, and walkways leading to each of those areas.
Around 100 submissions were received by the Council on the Draft Development Plan – under legislation, at this stage in the process, only modifications which are “minor in nature and would not have significant effects on the environment” can be made.
Chief Executive Brendan McGrath is currently preparing a report for councillors which will be discussed at the end of November. The Development Plan is expected to be adopted at the beginning of December, and comes into effect four weeks after that point.
In a statement issued this afternoon, the Diocese of Galway spoke of the “hurt” at learning of the Comer/McHale proposals after reading today’s Galway City Tribune, and it has not had any approach from the developers.
“The Diocese of Galway and the Parish of St. Patrick fully understand and absolutely share the deep sense of hurt, surprise and upset felt by many faithful and good people of this old city parish on reading the City Tribune today.
“Property Developers may draw up plans and make proposals but, in this matter, they have lacked the most basic elements of common courtesy.
“Neither the Diocese of Galway or the Parish of St. Patrick’s has been approached or consulted in any way about a so-called ‘plan’ to acquire and demolish this Church property.
“Neither the Diocese of Galway or the Parish of St. Patrick’s have any plans to sell, deconsecrate, demolish or move St. Patrick’s Church, the ‘old St. Patrick’s’ Church, the associated parish houses or the adjacent graves.
“Neither the Diocese of Galway or the Parish of St. Patrick has engaged in any process, discussion, surmising or agreement with anybody, developer, politician or otherwise, on these matters,” the statement reads.
You can read the Comer/McHale submission under the Draft City Development Plan HERE.
For more on the Eyre Square East Quarter plans and the City Development Plan, see this week’s Galway CIty Tribune
From this Week’s Galway City Tribune – Just days after the annual tourist season kicked off with the St Patrick’s weekend festivities, an area of the city’s main throughfare is to be dug up yet again.
The City Council confirmed this week that “upgrade works” at the junction between High Street, Shop Street and Mainguard Street are to commence next week, drawing the ire of local business people and residents.
One local councillor and businessman said the works, which brought huge disruption while being carried out on other stretches of the route in recent years, should have been carried out while footfall was lower in January and February.
Cllr Níall McNelis told the Galway City Tribune that business people in the area were outraged at the news, and despite assurances from the Council that the works would be done “without major disruptions”, bitter experience has taught them otherwise.
“They’re outraged, to be blunt. They just can’t believe this is happening now,” he said.
“Everyone understands that these works are necessary, but this is going to take weeks out of what should be one of their busiest times.”
Works in the area were left incomplete as a result of the visit of Britain’s Prince William and Catherine in 2019.
In a statement issued by the Council, Director of Services Patrick Greene said the works should be “substantially completed by early June”.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the March 24 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.
From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Ice cream vans will only be allowed to sell to the public for 20 minutes before being obliged to move on to a different location if proposed new bylaws for casual trading in Galway are adopted.
The 2023 regulations to replace the 2011 bylaws will also outlaw any single use plastic products to be given out or sold by stall holders, including bottles, cutlery, containers, single use sachets, plates and straws. Compostable or reusable alternatives must be used instead of single use plastics.
The maximum time that the ice cream mobile unit can be stationary at any one location is 20 minutes.
Traders will avoid huge cost increases seen elsewhere – it will cost €267.50 annually per bay for Eyre Square (up marginally from €250). In St Nicholas’ Market it will be €69.50 per linear metre – generally equating to €139 for regular size pitches, an increase of €9.
Stall holders will again have to buy a separate licence to trade on Sundays and for the market Wednesday to Friday in July and August. But they will be able to set up shop for free at Christmas if they hold a licence for Saturday or Sunday.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read more on the draft Casual Trading Bylaws, see the March 24 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.
From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Inadequate resuscitation capacity and overall space, as well as isolation from ICU, diagnostics and theatres along are part of the HSE’s rationale for building a new €450 million Emergency Department and Women’s and Children’s block on the grounds of UHG.
The health authority is hoping the new development could commence construction in 2026 and be completed in early 2029, and the Galway City Tribune has learned it would have operational costs in the region of €40 million per annum.
According to the HSE, the existing Temporary Emergency Department – which opened its doors last October – there is inadequate space for the 70,000 attendances each year.
This includes “a lack of facilities for isolation, mental health, gynaecology, limited paediatric ED accommodation with significant resuscitation capacity to meet emergencies and trauma”, HSE documentation reads.
The ED has also fallen well short of national targets for Patient Experience Time – that 95% of all patients should be see or admitted or discharged within six hours and 100% within nine hours.
In UHG, the figures for 2020 were 13% and 44% respectively, due to what the HSE describes as “sub-optimal infrastructure, design and consequently poor patient flow and capacity limitations”.
The HSE also noted the existing Women’s and Children’s services operate from “poor quality, mainly single-storey buildings from 1950s and 1960s dispersed across the site with no direct access to the ED, isolated from vital healthcare services such as critical care, diagnostics and theatres”.
Theatre capacity was described as “inadequate” for UHG’s catchment of around 323,000 people from Galway, Mayo and Roscommon. The population for the wider Saolta University Healthcare Group, for which UHG is the tertiary or specialised care hospital, is estimated at 830,000.
The HSE said the new building would allow for a dedicated paediatric ward, adolescent beds (up to 16th birthday) and ambulatory facilities, “located closer to the critical medical infrastructure of the hospital”.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article and for details on the cause of a “foul odours” problem on the hospital grounds, see the March 24 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.
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