#GrantSlashed - There was consternation among Galway City County councillors that its marketing promotion fund would hand over €10,000 to the Port of Galway to attract cruise ships when the harbour body lavished handsome salaries on its executives.

According to the Connacht Tribune, in a debate over how to divide up the yearly fund worth €206,000, Fianna Fáil Councillor Mike Crowe said he believed directors of the Harbour Board were ‘handsomely paid’ and it was questionable whether they should be compensated by the Council to do their job.

The concern was taken up Cllr Donal Lyons (Ind), who noted that the Galway Harbour Board was a private company and that at the minute the port was unable to accommodate large cruise ships due its tidal nature.

Fine Gael’s Padraig Conneely recalled that the fund was set up in the wake of the Volvo Ocean Race to pay for free public events during a new, large festival which had the capacity to draw in large crowds. To read more on the story, click here.