Bradley Bytes  –  A sort of political column by Dara Bradley

Have you noticed the absolute state of Spanish Arch and Spanish Parade lately?

Maybe you’ve become accustomed to it. But next time you pass what is perhaps Galway’s most iconic site, along with the Cathedral and Eyre Square, take some time to take it all in.

Take a moment to observe and try to comprehend what Galway City Council has done to one of the city’s most famous and photographed historic sites.

Look for layers of ugliness. A dozen or so orange traffic cones in the inner layer closest the water’s edge, with red plastic hoardings and orange plastic netting. They’re strewn over the grassy area where people used to sit to enjoy the sight and sound of water where the River Corrib meets Galway Bay. Now out of bounds.

The next layer is the most intrusive – a massive, inflated orange boon or aquadam. Like the Great Wall of China, it can probably be viewed from space.

Outside of and apparently protecting, that monstrosity is a ring of steel. Brutal in and of themselves, these obtrusive gates that distort views to and from Claddagh are anchored by several piles of hideous-looking sandbags.

Purple flags and Irish tricolours hang from lampposts that line Spanish Parade (Fish Market), a limp attempt to distract us from the horrors at ground level.

Soon, probably after Easter, Galway City Council will remove this horrendous ‘art installation’.

The ‘temporary’ flood barrier – that has become a permanent fixture every winter and spring – will go back into storage until it reappears again, appropriately around Halloween.

You could tolerate it for a defined period, if the area was being cordoned off for works that would permanently improve this amenity.

But it’s worse than a building site, except there is no construction work. This is the Council’s recurring ‘temporary’ solution to high tides and rising water levels.

Plans for a permanent flood barrier have been delayed and are years off. And in the meantime, visitors to Galway and local residents are denied access to one of the city’s prime assets and top three attractions.

Councillors used to give out about this sort of thing, on behalf of citizens. But even they have fallen silent and taken a ‘why bother?’ attitude.

The Council’s stock reply to complaints always cited the cost of inflating and deflating the aquadam every time there was a high tide. But what is the cost of the damage to Galway’s reputation? What is the cost of losing access to a prized amenity?

Galway’s tourism season unofficially kicked off on St Patrick’s Day, and yet a month later, one of the city’s main attractions remains out of bounds.

Tourists who visit this medieval wall will at least get a sense of the contempt that the philistines in charge at City Hall hold them in – an attitude the rest of us feel all year round.

Pictured: The area around the Spanish Arch is cordoned off and like a building site. Except there’s no building going on. This ugly scene is the Council’s recurring ‘temporary’ solution to flooding. PHOTO: JOE O’SHAUGHNESSY.