The next progress report on the controversial Knocknacarra Community Centre will be presented to the city council by the end of the year. The news comes after Galway Deputy Frank Fahey revealed this week that the city council does not own the site for the proposed community centre at Millars Lane.

Last month, the city council became lead agents in the long-awaited project, which has been in the pipeline for over seven years. Deputy Fahey has asked for cross party support to get the community facility up and running in Knocknacarra as soon as possible. He has made the call in response to criticism from City Councillor Donal Lyons over Deputy Fahey's support for private sector involvement in the project.

"Contrary to what Cllr Lyons said, the city council does not have a site," explained Deputy Fahey. "It failed to honour a contract it entered into to purchase a site and so in turn, lost the site," he claimed.

The city council has not given a clear 'yes or no' answer over whether they own the site for the development. In September, a spokesperson for the city council said the money "had been dispatched" for the purchase of the site. In their latest statement, the city council said:

"The site at Millars Lane is available for development as a community facility and Galway City Council will bring a progress report by year end to the members of the city council on the development of such a facility."

Deputy Fahey has once again rowed in behind plans by the Moritz group to build a €13.5 million state-of-the-art sports and community facility for the 15,000 residents in Knocknacarra.

The plans were rejected by the city council despite a minimal cost to the council of €1.4 million under public private partnership. He said the proposal would be delivered within a year of approval. City councillors were not given a copy of the proposal before it was rejected by city management.

"Surely what is best for the people of Knocknacarra is to see an end to the long wait they have endured for such a basic facility," said Deputy Fahey.

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