More than 100 Fórsa members at City Hall picketed Council headquarters on Monday demanding that the local authority abandon its controversial €56.5 million move to Crown Square.

In a protest ahead of the monthly meeting of the City Council, staff vented their frustrations about the lack of consultation over the move, and the detrimental effect of moving services out of the city centre.

Staff chanted “No to Crown, stay in town” as they made their feelings clear to officials pursing the move to Mervue – a move that is now not expected to take place until 2026.

This followed an earlier statement from City Hall which set out the reasons for the move.

“The [College Road] building contains limited facilities for public and civic events and the hosting of group meetings, a lack of private meeting space for dealing with customers, and an unsuitable Council Chamber with inadequate capabilities,” said the statement.

Fórsa Official Pádraig Mulligan slammed the statement, issued just hours before the planned demonstration, as “amateurish”.

In a speech to the picket, Mr Mulligan said the public and staff were being “ignored” while officials forged ahead with a plan a “stupid decision” to relocate.

“When a situation arises where the public are not included in what’s going on, there is something wrong with this city. At the heart of all of this should have been the public. They were not and that is wrong,” said Mr Mulligan.

Cllrs Alan Cheevers (FF), Mike Cubbard (Ind) and Níall McNelis (Lab) stood with the protestors, as did Deputy Catherine Connolly (Ind).

Mr Mulligan said he believed councillors were misled when they voted to buy the unit in Crown.

In July 2022, councillors agreed the purchase of the new offices at Crown from developer JJ Rhatigan – on the strong recommendation of former Chief Executive Brendan McGrath, having given elected representatives just three working days to consider the proposal.

At the time, they were told the move was, in part, motivated by a requirement for improvements for staff. A survey has revealed that three-quarters of Fórsa members are considering leaving their job because of the relocation.

“I think that the information that they got in making this decision was significantly flawed. There was a significant amount of information deliberately left out in order for this project to happen. And I think we need to get to the bottom of that.

“Until such a time that we do, this project shouldn’t continue,” said Mr Mulligan to chants of ‘hear, hear’, cheers and applause from gathered staff members.

Those protesting were doing so for the city as a whole, he said.

“As public servants, all of you get nothing out of this. but what you are doing is standing with the people of Galway.

“I think we are standing with ratepayers; I think we are standing with businesses in the city; hollowing out the city is not acceptable to us,” said Mr Mulligan.

As reported by the Galway City Tribune last week, the survey of members carried out by Fórsa found 98% of respondents believed senior management in City Hall had misled city councillors on the level of consultation with staff.

Staff have also expressed fears that they will be unable to serve the public properly at a location outside the city centre and 90% do not accept the decision to move.

Pictured: Members of the Fórsa trade union outside City Hall on Monday, in a protest over the proposed move of Galway City Council to a new headquarters in Crown Square. Photo: Brian Harding.