Galway City Council has said that it is “satisfied” work will resume shortly on the long-delayed Picture Palace arthouse cinema.
Contractors were due on site to finish the €9 million project this week, and a city council spokesman said that it was expected that there would be “boots on the ground in a matter of days”.
The project has been plagued by difficulties, including receivership and liquidation of the initial contractor, since it was first proposed by film producer Lelia Doolan and others in 2004.
Minister for Arts Heather Humphreys has defended her decision to earmark more public funding for the project, which is expected to cost € 9.24 million before it is complete.
A sum of € 6.14 million has already been spent.The cinema has been promoted by Solas-Galway Picture Palace Teoranta, which was incorporated in 2007.
Last July, Ms Humphreys announced transfer of the management, completion and operation of the project to a private company, Element Pictures, which runs the Lighthouse Cinema in Dublin. The project management was to have been assumed for the final stages by the local authority.
New contractors Rhatigan will complete the fit-out, and the city council has been liaising with Ms Humphreys’s department on variation of the lease terms.
Solas had been given the site at a peppercorn rent for 99 years, but Galway city manager Brendan McGrath has said that a new lease for 30 years would ensure a commercial rent was charged to Element Pictures - or whoever the lessee was at that stage - in 25 years.
The city council said that the cinema would be open in time for next year's Galway Film Fleadh.
The project involves a number of stakeholders, including the Irish Film Board, and includes a Western Development Commission loan.
Irish Film Board designate chair Dr Annie Doona told an Oireachtas Joint Committee on Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts and the Gaeltacht on September 28th that the cinema would be a "tremendous asset" to Galway, but said the board was "frustrated and disappointed" that it had taken so long.
“There are issues with the recession and the Picture Palace, but our concern is that the building should be finished, the department should invest money and that there should be excellent governance,”Dr Doona said.
“ We had some concerns which we articulated about the length of time it was taking, and some of the issues that occurred along the way. We believe in the project and want to see it finished as it is important for the people of Galway,” she noted.
“We have been frustrated. The building is needed, and we have invested money to have the project finished,”she said.
