In the latest twist, the city council has admitted that ‘despite every effort, no significant progress has been made’. City Councillor Catherine Connolly said she is “horrified” at the findings in the report and will be calling for a time-scale and commitment from the city council to show when the project will be completed.

Permission was first granted for the community centre in 2000 and it was incorporated into the plans for Joyces Supermarket. This centre did not materialise at the location and a new location was identified at Millars Lane.

The report states that the KCA’s application for a sports grant was unsuccessful. The report recommends that ‘it is now necessary’ for Galway City Council to act as the lead agency in the project. It states that the city council will ‘engage appropriate consultants to design the community centre along the lines of the original plans and incorporate new thinking’.

This means the revised plans will have to go back on public display under part eight of the planning act. The original plans had already been through the part eight process.

Cllr Connolly has described the move as “totally unacceptable”.

“I am horrified that three years after the setting up of the committee we still have no community centre. I put in a notice of motion about this last year looking for a progress report. While I welcome the report, I feel the council should have been the lead agency all along. It is unacceptable that this has dragged on for so long and the burden has been put on the local residents to come up with the money. The burden should not have been on ordinary people,” she said.

Kevin Swift, acting Director of Services for Tom Hernon, who is on annual leave, said the city council is “still liaising with the Knocknacarra Community Association” regarding the community centre. The issue will be discussed at Monday’s meeting of the City Council, the first council meeting since the summer break.

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