Pressure mounts to decide future of ‘dilapidated’ Tipperary Council-owned building
It’s time to “get real” about plans for a former council district office in Tipperary.
That was the message from Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Smith at the November meeting of the Thurles Municipal District, who said that the former district office on the Birr Road in Roscrea is “unsightly” and “dilapidated”.
"It’s unsightly, it’s uninviting, and it’s not sending out the message that we want,” Cllr Smith told the meeting.
"We could have someone here from planning telling us about the huge uptake from private people in relation to the refurbishment grants, and here we have, just as you approach the town, this building, unused.
"We have to get real here about what we’re trying to do with this building, we’re trying to invest in all our towns, and the fact that we have a big shed that’s accommodating our employees, and I don’t think it’s fit for purpose,” Cllr Smith added.
Calling for Tipperary County Council to lead by example, the Fianna Fáil councillor said that other areas in Roscrea should be examined that would better serve the council’s employees.
In response, district engineer Thomas Duffy said that money is the issue when it comes to making plans for the former district office.
"It’s funding. We would love to do work to that office and to upgrade it,” Mr Duffy said.
Cllr Smith said that before the issue of funding is even raised, there needs to be a starting point with a plan.
"You have to start somewhere. We’re not even at start one point for the district office, I’m asking that this district gets to the starting point, get at least a working plan in place, what we want to do with it. Whether we want to offload it, whether we want to relocate it, but I don’t think it’s good enough.
“This narrative that keeps coming out ‘it’s funding, it’s funding’, it’s not funding, it’s to get to step one, go to step two, and look then at different avenues of funding,” Cllr Smith said.
"It’s quite clear that anybody who wants to come into the town and look at that building, it’s been left there, run down, unsightly, that’s not the message that Tipperary County Council should be sending out,” he added.
Mr Duffy said that plans had been made for the building in the past, but the quotes for the job were just far too high.
"We did have a plan, we did price it, and we did see what could we do, and we stepped back because of the price of the works to be carried out, and maybe we should push a bit further and see if there are funding streams available, but there was a plan and is a plan in place but it’s just about the costs involved,” he explained.
Cllr Smith said if that plan wasn’t possible, another plan should be come up with.
"That was one plan, offload it then, look for another site. There’s obviously a value to it, if it’s of no value to you, it’s a value to someone else who might want to work with it,” Cllr Smith said.
"We’re not even examining the possibilities here, all I’m asking for is to get to step one,” he concluded.