The Irish Times

"Fallujah square", as Galway's city centre is sometimes called these days, has been dogged by controversy since plans for its latest redesign were presented to city councillors in January 1999. As one angry businessman remarked yesterday, the siege-like sandbags around its 17th century Browne doorway in the middle of the square,"say it all". A local councillor has remarked that the Eiffel Tower in Paris was built at a faster rate. At the time, former city manager Joe Gavin was very enthusiastic about transforming Galway's city centre, which was once a medieval jousting ground and market, hosted US president John F. Kennedy's historic visit, and was last redesigned in the 1960s. The distinctive limestone figure of writer Pádraic Ó Conaire would be relocated to a "sculpture" garden, traffic would be altered to allow for pedestrianisation, and "visual clutter" such as public toilets would be replaced as the square was converted into a "series of plazas on a European theme", it was said.