Eyre Square project to double in cost to €10m

The cost of the Eyre Square redevelopment project in Galway is now set to double from the original estimate to around €10 million, it has emerged.

Councillors yesterday called on the council to explain the cost over-run, while businesses said the ratepayers should not have to foot the spiralling bill.

All the indications are that the work will not be completed on schedule by this October but will run into next summer, the Deputy Lord Mayor of Galway, Fine Gael Councillor Pádraig Conneely, said yesterday.

Director of services at Galway City Council, Mr Tom Connell, confirmed yesterday that the total cost has reached €9 million. But he denied a claim by Mr Conneely that extra delays could result in the figure rising to over €10 million, double the initial estimate of costs which was between €4 to €5 million.

Mr Conneely said on top of the €6.3 million contract price paid to Samuel Kingston Construction, the cost of consultants, planning, archaeological and other reports stood at €2.7 million. "This is a double-whammy for the ratepayers in Eyre Square whose businesses have already been devastated by the works. When the project is completed, they are going to have to pick up the tab over the next couple of years."

Green Party councillor Mr Niall Ó Brolcháin yesterday questioned how the over-run in costs was going to be met and said he would be surprised if the scheme finished on schedule.

"As a councillor, I find it very difficult to stand over this, and I want to know who is making the decision to continue spending money on this project. It is not acceptable that the costs keep rising and rising," he said.

Mr Connell insisted yesterday that barring any unforeseen circumstances, the overall cost of the project would not exceed €9 million and that the completion deadline of the end of October/beginning of November would be met. He confirmed that the cost of the civil engineering works was €6.3 million and the balance of the €9 million included the cost of the extra work, as well as the employment of city council staff on site and additional archaeological costs.

The city council has already received €2.5 million from the Department of the Environment for the project.

It has lodged another application for a second tranche of funding from which it is hoping to get at least €2 million.

The chief executive of Galway Chamber of Commerce, Mr Michael Coyle, said any question of the city's ratepayers having to pay additional levies as a result of an over-run in costs was totally unacceptable. He pointed out that the ratepayers in the city were already paying €21 million in rates for the coming year and many businesses, particularly those immediately adjacent to Eyre Square, had already suffered since the work began over a year ago.

"We would like the square to be completed as quickly as possible. We acknowledged at the outset that this was a complex project that would take 20 months to complete, but that was on the understanding that the contractors would be working flat out to achieve that deadline, and we are very concerned with the pace of progress."