Galway’s long-awaited new shopping centre looks set for further delays. Two years ago, ambitious plans were announced by CIE, the State public transport group, to develop the Ceannt Quarter scheme in the heart of Galway city.
The plan, costed at up to €1.5bn, would have seen a total rebuild of the existing railway station and the adjacent area, covering a total of 5.7ha and including much retail space. Galway centre has long suffered from a severe shortage of good quality retail acccommodation and the Ceannt Quarter scheme was designed to address this deficit.
However, all the operating companies within CIE, including Irish Rail, are bringing in severe cutbacks in services and staff numbers, in response to the recession. If these drastic measures hadn’t been taken, CIE could have faced a trading loss of up to €100m this year.
In 2007, these plans for Galway city centre were announced with a crescendo of fanfares, but since then the plans for the scheme have gone quiet and retailers are unsure as to when it will go ahead and on what scale, even though virtually all infrastructure proposals in the Transport 21 plan have escaped recent government cutbacks. Irish Rail was asked for a statement on current and future plans for the Ceann Quarter development, but failed to respond.
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The Ceannt Quarter faces long delays |
