Works to make former Tipperary pub safe set to begin, after councillor warns building could collapse
Works are set to be carried out to make a former Tipperary pub safe, after a councillor warned that the building was “an accident waiting to happen”.
The condition of the former Tír na nÓg pub in Carrick-on-Suir has been raised numerous times by Fianna Fáil councillor Kieran Bourke.
The former pub suffered a fire a number of years ago, and now all that is left of the building is the front wall, which has significantly deteriorated.
At the September meeting of the Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District Cllr Bourke again asked the council for an update on plans for the site.
“I called on the environment section a number of months ago to make this safe because I’m very concerned about the state of the building,” he said.
“I understand that the environment section has been proactive and have been dealing with the issues, but perhaps you might give us an update and a timeline on when you hope work to be done and what the end use for the site will be.
“Will we end up acquiring the site as a local authority, or have we plans, because I would like not just to see the site made safe, but I would like to see something proactive done with it that would complement the Main Street going forward,” Cllr Bourke said.
In response, representatives from the council’s environment section said that works had been ongoing to make the building safe, and that more work would be done over the coming months to secure it.
“Currently on Tír na nÓg, we’ve engaged an engineer and the same consultants that dealt with the property previously. They have done an investigation on it, as well as an investigation on the adjoining building, and they’ve made recommendations,” the meeting was told.
“It’s gone out to tender now to carry out the works to render the property safe and on the back of that then we have to get some final clearance from adjoining landowners,” councillors heard.
At a previous meeting, Cllr Bourke said that he was of the opinion that the building could collapse at any moment.
“As an experienced building contractor, I examined this only yesterday, and in my opinion, this building is ready to fall down. I’m asking the council to reduce the wall down to a safe level,” he said.
“I think this is an emergency, and it needs to be treated as such,” Cllr Bourke said.