‘Destruction’ of old Enniscorthy nightclub to start as plans to create new heritage quarter continue

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Wexford County Council (WCC) crews will soon begin “destructive testing” at the old Castle Nightclub in Enniscorthy with a view to converting it into a “public realm space with a visitor interpretation centre and café”. Having purchased the premises in March of this year, WCC intends to include it in the new The Castle Heritage Quarter as part of the Enniscorthy Town Centre First Plan .

At the July meeting of the Enniscorthy Municipal District (EMD) executive engineer David Whitty provided an update on how works were progressing.

“An application for ministerial consent has been made to the national monuments service,” he said, referencing a requirement that affects national monuments in the ownership of a local authority. “The next step is to do some destructive testing, go into the nightclub and start digging up floors. But we expect to be back here in October with completed part eight planning on this scheme.”

As ever, Councillor Jackser Owens required some cold, hard facts before he could express any enthusiasm or excitement.

“When will it be finished?” he asked. “Will it be 2028, 2029? Can we give the people some idea of what’s happening. We bought this yoke, when are we going to develop it?”

Cathaoirleach of the EMD, Cllr Barbara Anne Murphy, said that Mr Whitty and his team had to be ready and able to apply for grant funding if and when it became available for this project.

“We need to concentrate on developing Enniscorthy Castle and the grounds around it,” she said. “People will want to come and see it. But we need to successfully apply to the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) to do that, we need to be ready to submit our application when the time comes.”

Mr Whitty was in full agreement and said the project was “really contingent” on the council receiving grant monies from the URDF.

“If there is URDF available this year I would fully expect that project to be completed within a five-year timeframe but we can’t do anything until we get that funding,” he said. “But we’ve made serious progress there and we’re in with a serious shout of getting substantial URDF.”