[3] There was considerable unease in the city when it was reported that the original building contractors, Samuel Kingston Construction Ltd, had left the site and were not returning.

A small group of concerned Galwegians came together in October 2011, inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement that had very quickly spread out across hundreds of cities in the U.S. and the E.U.

The main aim was for regular people to set-up a base in their local areas, utilising public spaces to facilitate general assemblies, workshops and debates to discuss and try find solutions to alarming social injustices and lack of accountability amongst states and banking institutions.

A mixed group volunteered their time to highlight the wealth divide between those (the 1%) that helped create and profited from the bubble that caused the 2009 banking crash and the 99% that were forced to pay for it.

The camp was finally dismantled on 16 May 2013 when a team of local Garda and City Council officials arrived in the early hours to remove the occupiers and reclaim the corner of the square for the impending return of The Ocean Race to Galway.

Before the most recent, controversial re-landscaping, the park used to house two large cast-iron cannons which were presented in recognition of the service of the Connaught Rangers, an Irish Regiment in the British Army, in the Crimean War.