Galway City Council is nearing a deal to secure the future operation of Pálás Cinema, the Galway City Tribune understands.
Councillors are due to be presented with a proposal for the jinxed arthouse cinema in February — a year after the doors closed when its former operators, Element Pictures, pulled out citing mounting losses.
Following an ‘expression of interest’ process, 10 formal submissions were received by the Council and it’s believed that a preferred candidate to take over the lease for the building has now been identified.
It is also understood that the new operator will run Pálás as a cinema, with final negotiations over the terms still ongoing.
Element, who also run the Light House Cinema in Dublin, withdrew from their lease last February, announcing they could no longer sustain ongoing losses which they said amounted to around €250,000 per annum — despite only paying a ‘peppercorn’ rent.
A City Council-commissioned independent review last year determined that the cinema needed 32,000 more admissions a year just to break even.
Since its closure, the building has been used sporadically for events including the Film Fleadh and Comedy Festival.
Cllr Níall McNelis (Lab) said details of the future plans for the Pálás were yet to be unveiled to councillors but “we have been told that negotiations are ongoing.
“My understanding is that there is no agreement signed yet,” he said.
The cinema must retain an arthouse element, said Cllr McNelis, and play an important role in supporting the film industry in the West of Ireland.
“But not another penny of Council money should be spent on it,” he said.
Galway’s arthouse project has been plagued by issues for almost two decades, since Galway City Council paid out €1.9 million for its site on Merchant’s Road.
Solas, the original project promoters, a charity chaired by Lelia Doolan, received over €7 million from public sector bodies. The project ran around €3 million overbudget and was delivered nearly nine years late in 2018.
The Charities Regulator issued a damning verdict on the project in 2018, criticising accounting practices, oversight, corporate governance and the lack of skills and competence of Solas-Galway Picture Palace Teoranta to manage such a big project.
Similar concerns were echoed by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), where TDs labelled the cinema a “waste of public money”.