Fresh push to bring historic Tipperary workhouse back into use
A Fine Gael councillor has renewed calls for the former Tipperary town workhouse to be restored and brought back into use.
At the February meeting of the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District (MD), Fine Gael councillor John Crosse raised the issue of the former workhouse in Tipperary town during a presentation from Maria O’Donnell of the Munster Vales tourism initiative.
Praising the council’s director of services for culture Damien Ginty, Cllr Crosse said that he was glad that the former workhouse had been looked at again to see what could be done for it.
"We spoke at a previous meeting in Clonmel about the benefits and the issues around trying to find a solution for issues in our constituency, and Damien [Ginty] spoke to me afterwards as well and he listened to me about the old workhouse on the Station Road in Tipperary town,” Cllr Crosse said.
"My understanding is that Mr Ginty has since looked at that, and I know there’s a huge amount of money and investment to bring it back to fruition and bring it back to use, but I want to thank Damien for that, and thank you for listening to me,” he said.
Thanking Ms O’Donnell for her presentation to the council, Cllr Crosse appealed to her to consider promoting the workhouse in Tipperary town as part of her work.
"If there was any way that the workhouse could be brought to fruition, I know it’s probably a long-term project, but we should be the ones leading the way in getting work advanced in Tipperary town, it has potential,” he added.
Built between 1839 and 1841 during the pre-Famine era, the Tipperary town workhouse has fallen into dereliction in recent years.
In the 2000s, there were plans to turn the former workhouse into a hostel, however, the project ended in turmoil in 2010 after years of financial irregularities.
The building was partially destroyed by a number of fires over the years, with numerous issues of vandalism also being reported there since it was abandoned.
In 2019, at an MD meeting, Cllr Crosse said that Tipperary County Council were trying to sell the site to a private owner to try and get it brought back into use.
An advertisement at the time said the auctioneer was “instructed by Tipperary County Council to invite expressions of interest to purchase and complete the reconstruction of the above property”. It is understood that a sale never went through and that the property remains in the ownership of the county council.