From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Galway City Council doubled the number of car parking spaces it purchased at the new Crown Square development based on “feedback” from city councillors, it has emerged.

Originally, the local authority had planned to buy 100 car parking spaces at the new City Hall offices it purchased in Mervue.

The original cost of those 100 spaces was €1.425m, or €14,425 per car parking space.

The figure of 100 car parking spaces was also submitted to the Department of Housing, when the local authority sought approval to borrow €44.5m to buy the new building to relocate City Hall from College Road.

In the Council’s loan application sanction, released to the Galway City Tribune under Freedom of Information (FOI), the Council said it was buying the building “. . . along with 100 underground car spaces”.

However, it has now emerged that the Council has bought 200 car parking spaces.

In a new report to elected members, the City Council said that it “agreed to purchase 200 exclusive underground car parking spaces at €3,087,500 exclusive of VAT”. VAT would add around €400,000 to the overall cost of parking spaces.

It did so “based on feedback” from the meeting last July when city councillors gave the go ahead to management to seek loan approval to borrow €44.5m.

The deal to buy Crown Square also includes agreement to rent a further 50 car parking spaces for €50,000 per annum, according to the report.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the March 10 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.