By Dara Bradley

He was the ‘Grinch that nearly ruined Christmas’ . . . but now Mayor of Galway City, Councillor Mike Crowe, has done a U-turn – following sustained political pressure and lobbying from businesses and citizens of the city – and has come out in favour of the proposed Christmas Market at Eyre Square.

Red-faced Mayor Crowe, who had initially branded the original plan “madness”, has ‘backed-down’ and issued a statement this week in which he says he is “fully supportive of” a revised Christmas Market plan.

The about-turn comes, he says, in the wake of talks between himself, the Galway City Business Association (GCBA) and Market Place Europe, the operators of the event.

He says a new deal has been brokered in the past fortnight, which offers more for the city than the original deal and therefore the plan has his full backing. Mayor Crowe says the operators of the event will now have to invest €10,000 in a lump sum in the first year, on top of the amounts that had been agreed for years two and three.

Mayor Crowe told the Galway City Tribune if he hadn’t raised concerns about the initial plan in this newspaper two weeks ago, this new and improved deal would not have been secured.

But Fine Gael Cllr Brian Walsh contacted the Galway City Tribune to express his concern that the impression was being given by Mayor Crowe that the original proposal hadn’t taken into account the needs of businesses of Galway.

Cllr Walsh said he met with the organisers two months ago and it was always the case that cash (€80,000 to be spread over years two and three, he says) would be provided by the event organisers and given to the city.

Paul Faller, chairman of the GCBA, welcomed the Mayor’s statement. “It is very important that the first citizen of Galway is behind us on this project.”

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune