Galway Bay fm newsroom - Concerns have been raised over the local authority’s handling of derelict sites at key locations in the city.
These include the former Corrib Great Southern Hotel, Taffe's in the city centre and the Spinnaker site in Knocknacarra.
At a special meeting in City Hall, officials advised that in the last three weeks, a Section 22 notice has been served on the owners of the Corrib Great Southern site.
This would amount to a fine of over 112 thousand euro if specified works are not carried out in 2019.
The meeting heard a total of 3 thousand euro has been billed for derelict sites in 2018 on one single site in Salthill.
Officials advised that under new legislation, the levy will be increased from 3 percent to 7 percent by 2020.
However Fianna Fail councillor Peter Keane argued the local authority needs to look at its fines system overall which only seems to be effective for parking regulations, with 370 summons dealt with at Galway District Court in recent weeks.
He says the relevant legislative tools don't appear to be used and the fine system needs to be overhauled and staffed.
