Councillor's form united front over 'historic' and derelict Nenagh site

A call has been made by several Tipperary councillors for the ongoing neglect of Nenagh’s historic Military Barracks on Summerhill to be rectified.

Cllr Seamie Morris was the most vocal around the issue at the recent April Nenagh Municipal District Council saying that communications should be made to the Department of Defence over the dereliction of the site in its current state.

Cllr Morris said that he had been in contact with the Environmental section of the council to clean up the surroundings about the Barracks as neighbouring estates and homes have been invaded by shrubbery and bushes overgrowing from the site.

He urged the council to reach out to the Department of Defence to undergo a survey of the site to see if it would be possible for the site to be surveyed in order to ascertain if it would be beneficial for the council to acquire the site.

Speaking about the state of the historic site, Cllr Morris said: “It is the Department’s responsibility to look after the site. We should be contacting them to try and sort out this issue.

“We did a survey there back in 2005 and it was given ten years before it would become out of order.

“I would ask if we try and do a new survey and I would ask everyone to support this so we can solve the issue of the Military Barracks once and for all,” he added.

He was supported by several other councillors at the meeting, with Cllr John Carroll highlighting the awful state of the site as “poor recognition” for who served in the barracks during the War of Independence and Civil War and said the Department of Defence should “either do something with the site or get off the pitch.”

Also speaking on the issue was Cllr Rocky McGrath who said, “We should be together on this issue.

“It would cost a fortune to purchase the site but it’s a wonderful building and it’s a shame to see it in such dereliction.”

“Surely we could come to some sort of arrangement with the Department on this,” he said.

Expense was acknowledged as the biggest stumbling block to the council being able to take control of the barracks, with Cllr Morris highlighting the complexity of the site, other than the barracks itself.

“It is a very complex site,” he revealed.

“There are buildings behind and beside the barracks and we would need to find out who owns what there.

“We need to get a survey done to see if it’s even saveable or not.”

Cllr Michael O’Meara also weighed in on the discussion and added his support to the issue being resolved saying he sees the barracks as a “fly in the ointment in Nenagh” and said that action needs to be taken sooner rather than later and said it represented a huge lack of respect for the people who fought out of the building.

Nenagh Municipal District Staff Officer Rosemary Joyce said she would relay the concerns expressed by the council but highlighted a few issues with the proposals.

“The running of the site comes under the remit of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Drawing up any kind of plan would be premature until we see what needs to be done.

“It wouldn’t be fair to use public funding in Tipperary to go towards a project which wasn’t of our making,” she said.