THE MAYOR OF Galway has said he welcomes the news that the Galway Airport site has been sold.

The news emerged today that the site at Carnmore was bought by Galway County Council and Galway City Council in a joint venture for €1.1m.

Mayor Pádraig Conneely told TheJournal.ie that it “was not viable as an airport” and explained that the 115-acre site no longer has its aviation licence.

From June 2014, under local government reform, the city and county councils will both become responsible for economic strategic development because the county enterprise boards will no longer exist.

This was part of the reason behind the councils’ decision, explained Conneely. “€1.1m is good value,” he said. “The city council pays half and the county council pays half.”

He said that from June 2014 they will be able to see what can be done with the site, and that a new directorate is being set up in the councils for this economic and strategic development enterprise.

He said the councils “will be first in there” with the site and the sale “gives us a head start to enter into any negotiations”.

Conneely said that the development of the site could be a boost to Galway, as it is easily accessible and quite near Shannon airport. Though he said it is too early to say, there is potential for IT and ‘high tech’ companies to get involved.

He also pointed out that the cost element won’t be as large for any businesses hoping to get involved with the site, as the councils are not there to commercially make a profit from it.

There are five staff working at the airport, and Conneely said the airport’s private board are looking after their redundancy arrangements.

Read: US tourists boost Shannon Airport’s numbers>

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