A consortium of Galway organisations has combined resources to pitch for a pot of European money that could lead to a massive rejuvenation of the city centre.

The Galway bid statistically has a 10% chance of success. There’s an overall pot of €50m available through the EU Urban Innovation Fund for projects that focus on cultural regeneration of city centres and how to make them more liveable.

It’s understood 99 applications across Europe have been submitted; ten of these will be chosen through a competitive process and will get €5m each.

Galway City Council has partnered in a consortium with the Atlantic Technological University, Galway Chamber of Commerce, Galway Culture Company, Northern & Western Regional Assembly (NWRA) and University of Galway to make this bid.  The only other two Irish bids are based in the South East.

No Irish project has ever been successful in securing money through this fund in the past, but hopes are high that Galway’s base in the economically lagging North West region could give it an edge.

The six organisations have been working on the bid for months. They have submitted a bid for a complex ‘scenario’ of regeneration that is transferable to any European city, rather than focusing on one street in particular in the city centre.

If it is successful, this bid would effectively be used as seed funding to apply for far more lucrative pots of European money, including the Urban Regeneration Development Fund (URDF).

A successful bid would essentially allow the consortium to leverage other European funding sources for Galway projects.

This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the February 17 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.