Galway Bay fm newsroom - A new liquidator has been appointed to the former operators of the Pálás arthouse cinema in the city.
Until its collapse in July of last year, Solas received almost €8m in state funding for the project.
The cinema, which began development in 2009, was repeatedly dogged by setbacks and controversies - ultimately costing almost €8m to bring to fruition.
Operator Solas then transferred the lease on the building to Element Pictures in December of 2016 for a fee of around €30,000.
Seven months later, Solas collapsed, with virtually no assets after trading away the cinema building itself.
Revenue says it is owned over €800 thousand by Solas arising from a VAT audit - while a UK insurance firm is owed €200 thousand.
However, according to the Sunday Business Post, at the time of its demise, Solas's only recorded asset was just €2 thousand in a bank account.
An investigation by the Charities Regulator found that the transfer of the cinema was carried out with no independent valuation or competitive disposal process.
It also criticised the fact that Solas recorded no-income over 10 years, despite receiving public donations.
A new liquidator has now been appointed to the company, after the previous liquidator quit the role after a creditor took legal action - which effectively left the winding-up of Solas in limbo until now.
