"Local activists in
the greater Ballinfoile Mór area held a protest on Wednesday morning outside
the new Ballinfoile/Castlegar
Neighbourhood and Sports Centre to express their dismay and anger at Galway
City Council’s refusal to meet with representatives of local community groups
to discuss the centre’s proposed management structure as well as to accommodate
a visit to the site. The residents were joined in their protest by councillors
Catherine Connolly and Mike Cubbard.
In response to their
direct action, senior officials from Galway City Council agreed within hours to
meet community representatives on November 5th to discuss the
management of the new facility.
“We are of course
pleased that City Hall officials have finally agreed to sit down and talk with
us on the issue, according to
spokesperson Brendan Smith. “Activists in the Ballinfoile Mór area have been lobbying
and protesting for a multi-purpose community and sports centre since 1986 which
represents probably the longest running local residents’ campaign in Ireland
during modern times. Since the construction of the first housing estate in the
locality in the late 1970s, levies were placed on house sales to pay for
recreational facilities for all age groups. But it is a sad reflection on the
Irish planning system that such leisure complexes and other vital community
infrastructure such as schools, cycleways and parks are not put in place in
advance of housing development as is the case in many other European countries.
In Austria for instance the state ensures that land speculators do not make
huge profits from rezoning by setting a maximum price valuation on land with
the monies thus saved being invested into local communities. Hard
earned taxpayers' monies is used to put into the pockets of the new
landed gentry class, namely well-(politically) connected property
speculators and landowners. Otherwise as has been our experience, generations have been born into and have left our neighbourhood without
having ever enjoyed the joys of local indoor sports. Hence we feel that it is
only right and just that, after waiting decades for a facility paid in part by
residents’ contributions, that we should have a key role to play in the
management of this long awaited local authority owned centre which is nearing completion and expected to be open within
weeks. Otherwise it is a negation of local democracy. A community resource, whose
purpose is to serve first and foremost the recreational and community needs of
all ages living in the surrounding neighbourhoods, should have the direct
involvement of local inhabitants in its present and future development. When we
started the campaign Ireland in the 1980s, Ireland was a radically different country.
It was primarily a homogeneous cultural society and we want to ensure that the recreational
facilities fulfils the needs of all traditions in our society, both new as well
as old. Furthermore while we welcome the agreement of central government to
recently sanction the hiring of by Galway City Council of staff for the
community centre, we are amazed that no additional funding was allocated
leaving the local authority to try and scrap monies from an already
over-stretched budget.”
