Every effort has been urged to be made to ensure that the city’s arthouse cinema remains open beyond its slated closing date amid a warning that “once it’s gone, it could be gone forever”.

City Councillor Níall McNelis (Lab) said he would be seeking an urgent response from the City Council’s Chief Executive at their first meeting of 2025 next week following the announcement last month that Pálás’ operators are to pull out of the loss-making venture.

The Light House Cinema Group – which leased the building from Galway City Council for peppercorn rent – announced just before Christmas that it was closing Pálás Cinema at the end of February.

The group confirmed it was haemorrhaging money to keep the doors open in what is just the latest setback for a project which has been dogged with issues over the years.

Cllr McNelis said the Council did not have the expertise to run the cinema itself, but said he did not believe that the doors should be allowed to close next month.

“It has huge potential and there has been a massive campaign in recent days from supporters of the cinema.

“This is no criticism of the current management of the cinema but something different needs to be done. I think there could be a role for the education sector – the two universities and the GRETB – in securing a future for Pálás,” he said.

“I want answers from the Chief Executive on what their plan is, because it can’t simply be that they allow the doors to close in February. We know that if it closes, it is very unlikely to ever open again,” warned Cllr McNelis.

Galway’s arthouse cinema has been an expensive experiment and hit controversy after controversy since plans for its construction were mooted in 2004.

Solas, the original project promoters, a charity chaired by Lelia Doolan, received over €7 million from public sector bodies to fund the construction, and the site for the cinema was purchased with public money for €1.9 million by the City Council in 2007.

The project was around €3 million overbudget and was delivered nearly nine years later than expected.

The Charities Regulator issued a damning verdict on the project in 2018 – it criticised accounting practices, oversight, corporate governance, and the lack of skills and competence of Solas-Galway Picture Palace Teoranta to manage such a big project.

Similar concerns were echoed by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), where TDs labelled the cinema a “waste of public money”.

Pictured: Pálás: set to close at the end of February.