Galway City Council’s delayed move to Crown Square in Mervue has been pushed out again.

The draft Budget presented to City Councillors confirmed that occupation of the local authority’s new offices was now scheduled for the first quarter of 2027.

This latest deadline is three years later than what was originally planned.

In a press release issued in June of this year, the City Council said staff were due to move into the new headquarters in the third quarter of 2026.

Councillors were told in June 2022, when they approved a loan to purchase the new office from JJ Rhatigan’s, that the fit-out and move would be completed by December 2023.

The original estimate for the buildings fit-out was €11m but that is likely to be exceeded.

Councillors earlier this year gave management the go-ahead to apply for a €60m loan. An unspecified part this was for the fit-out of Crown Square, the cost of which has not yet been made public by elected representatives or the executive.

The Budget passed by councillors last week noted that the tender for the fit-out of the building was issued in October.

It will be assessed this December, and the successful partner will start the new building fit-out in the first quarter of 2026.

Delivery of the new headquarters at Crown Square, “designed to achieve LEED Platinum, NZEB and A2 Energy Rating” was listed as one of the ‘key priorities’ of the Council for this coming year.

The Council Budget document said the move to Crown Square was a “major ICT project involving multiple vendors and systems”.

The City Council was contacted for comment in relation to the reasons for the latest setback.

Pictured: Delayed: the City Council’s new headquarters at Crown Square.