Wexford council to investigate town centre building boarded up for 20 years – ‘the dogs in the street would tell you who owns it’
Wexford PeopleWexford County Council (WCC) is to look into the status of a town centre building which has been boarded up for the past 20 years without ever being used. Situated at the bottom of Esmonde Street in Gorey, the property is estimated to have been built during the latter years of The Celtic Tiger but, according to local councillors, has never been used for commercial purposes.
Raising the issue at the December meeting of the Gorey Kilmuckridge Municipal District (GKMD), Cathaoirleach Donal Kenny asked what powers the council had in relation to the property.
“When does it become a derelict building?” he asked. “It must be boarded up for the last 20 years, there’s people camping outside it in tents now.”
“The dogs on the street would tell you who owns it,” added Councillor Joe Sullivan.
With some debate as to when the property was built, Cllr Anthony Donohue said it had been finished sometime around 2006 and been vacant ever since.
Vowing to review all derelict properties across the district in the early part of 2026, director of planning Liz Hore said WCC had more than trebled the number of buildings on its derelict sites register in recent years.
“There’s a 150 properties on our derelict sites register, that’s up from 44 a number of years ago; it’s part of national policy to look at dereliction across the county.”
Cllr Darragh McDonald praised the council, noting that Co Wexford has one of the “lowest commercial vacancy rates in the country”, but said the presence of “that one eyesore” in Gorey was letting the side down.