Arts groups fear loss of Loughrea’s Cinema Paradiso

Musician Tony Callanan might not have too much in common with Toto, the Sicilian boy who forged a close bond with projectionist Alfredo in Giuseppe Tornatore's film Cinema Paradiso but he did spend much of his childhood in his local cinema.

Callanan, known for playing with Stockton’s Wing, remembers going to variety concerts and films in Loughrea town hall.

"I lived and learned there," says Callanan. "I think I knew more about Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg address than I did about the Irish 1798 rebellion."

Designed by Samuel Robers Ussher in 1862, for the Marquess of Clanricarde, the hall cost £1,500. It was donated to the people of the town in 1928.

The hall was converted into a picture house and ballroom in the 1930s and became a nucleus for community life until it closed in the late 1980s.

Originally, the townspeople held shares in the building but, as they died, these became consolidated, and ownership passed to the local authority. Last year, ahead of the abolition of Loughrea town council, Galway County Council received part 8 approval for development of the building as a "heritage centre" and business start-up space.

Alarm bells rang among artistic groups – and Loughrea has a plethora, from the Baffle Poetry Society to Seumas O'Kelly Players and music groups including the Loughrea Pipe Band and musical society.

Music is integral to the life of the

town. When a local student Patrick Halpin died in London earlier this year, fellow members of the Loughrea Youth Theatre performed for seven hours at a wake at his home and sang at his funeral.

Performance space Loughrea still has a temperance hall, with a stage and theatre space and run by the parish, but arts groups who have combined as Larc (Loughrea Artistic and Recreational Community) have longed for a performance and rehearsal space of their own.

Resident Anna Cronin says support for the arts is more important than ever, with social deprivation in certain parts of the town. Empty buildings and half-finished housing are a ghostly reminder of the boom.

The town hall is a protected structure which hasn't altered since its fit-out as a cinema. Larc believes the county council plan would involve gutting the building. Larc has no immediate access to money, but has buckets of goodwill, creativity and energy. Its 20 constituent groupings have sought a meeting with the council, unsuccessfully. 'Substantial capital'

The council said it will only deal with parties which have “substantial capital to invest”.

One such is the Loughrea Heritage and Development Company. Its chair is businessman Gerard McInerney and secretary is developer Patrick Sweeney. Its assets include Stations of the Cross by Evie Hone and the Yeats sisters' Dun Emer printing press banners by Jack B Yeats. The plan is to display some of the works in the new heritage centre.

A memo from Jim Cullen of Galway Council to Fine Gael Minister of State Ciarán Cannon last year said the local authority was "making one more attempt to bring the town hall in to active service again". He said "previous efforts to do so foundered as several groups wanted space in the building but virtually none could bring meaningful finance".

Callanan says Larc would happily come up with a business plan, but needs more information from the council. It would like more support from councillors, two of whom are on the Loughrea Heritage and Development Company board.