Galway Bay plan offers new vistas

The late US president John F. Kennedy said that "the problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by sceptics or cynics, whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities".

"We need men who can dream of things that never were, and ask why not," he said in his address to the Oireachtas in 1963.

Dr Bill Grealish, Galway based general practitioner, is too modest to describe himself as one of those visionaries, but he draws on the Kennedy quote to introduce his grand plan for Galway Bay.

Costed at £50 million, his proposal includes an 80-metre tower (11 metres higher than Dublin's Liberty Hall), incorporating a diaspora centre, hotel and upmarket apartments overlooking the bay at Salthill. The development would also include a heritage park with a replica of Galway's Claddagh village, a replica round tower and replicas of other well-known national monuments. Underground carparking for up to 1,000 cars would be provided, he said.

The project would involve reclaiming about three acres of land on Salthill's foreshore, extending from the shore facing Seapoint ballroom westwards. Dr Grealish has already approached the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Fahey, Minister of State for the Arts, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, several other politicians and local interests to seek support.

He said the Minister for the Marine "announced" the project on local radio last month, and was very enthusiastic. However, a spokesman for the Minister said Mr Fahey could not express approval as the venture would be subject to planning regulations, and a foreshore lease or licence from the Minister's department. Dr Grealish runs a general medical practice with the logo "On the Spot", and is the driving force behind an exclusive "retirement resort" planned for upper Salthill which will offer nursing support for its residents (price of the apartments is from £150,000 to £400,000). He isn't looking for State support for the heritage park and tower, but envisages a public-private partnership with tax breaks which would be self-financing.

Several Chicago-based Irish-Americans with strong Galway connections were "very keen", and at least one information technology company in the city would lease business space, he said.

The 80-metre tower would comprise 30 floors of 5,000 square feet each, with revolving restaurants, observation decks on the upper floors, tourist services and amenities on the lower floors, and accommodation for tourists and residents on the middle floors.

He argues that Galway's most famous asset, its bay, hasn't been fully capitalised on, and needs an observation point. The foreshore area identified is not part of the Grattan estate, he said, which was the subject of a court action during the initial stages of the Mutton Island sewage treatment plant construction.

He says he has the backing of Salthill residents for this project, and Prof Jim Ward of NUI Galway has identified it as a location for a diaspora centre which would celebrate the experiences, achievements and contributions of 70 million Irish abroad.

Prof Ward confirmed to The Irish Times that he has had discussions with Dr Grealish. "We've been trying to develop this concept for a number of years, and this is the first concrete offer of a location - not just a site but a building. Ideally, we would prefer space of our own, but that hasn't been an option to date."

However, the Salthill Tourism and Development Association (STADA) says it is keeping an open mind until it sees more details. Mr Ken Bergin, chairman of STADA and manager of the Waterfront Hotel, says it is a very ambitious project, and he would be concerned about the scale and the amount of land requiring reclamation. "It has the potential to be something magnificent for Salthill, but we have to see more detail," he said.

The "Disneyfication of what is left of true Irish culture" is how one critic, Mr Herb Meyer, has described the project in a letter to the local press, while An Taisce has reserved judgment until it sees details.

Dr Grealish is preparing an audio-visual presentation, and is setting up a website. He is inviting "suggestions, amendments, but most of all support".