Nenagh military barracks: Tipperary County Council has chance to 'do something brilliant'

Tipperary County Council now had a “great opportunity to do something brilliant with Nenagh’s former military barracks”, local councillors were told at the May meeting of Nenagh District Council.

The councillors received a lengthy presentation from local historian John Flannery on the barracks in which he said that in its 200-year history, it had shaped the town and country and had been an “integral part of Nenagh life”.

Mr Flannery recalled its many social and military links to the town, but that “sadly it was now a derelict site”.
Pointing out that the barracks was just one of six such barracks in the town, he said: “Only one remains, and we have to ask if we are going to remove that. It is down to us.”

He pointed out that the councillors themselves knew of all the reports that had been carried out on the site going to back to the Seventies but the one item missing had been how to transform the site’s use into bednights.

“Military history tours is the fastest growing sector in tourism,” said Mr Flannery. “The military barracks gives Nenagh a fantastic potential for people to stay.”

He said the barracks could become a hub for military history, not just in Nenagh or Tipperary but for all of Munster.

Mr Flannery said the full complex was ready to be used for a huge variety of purposes, including telling the stories of Tipperary people who fought and were honoured in various armies, with 13 US Congressional Medals and 17 Victoria Crosses, including one family, the Goughs, who won VCs over three generations, and Timmy Donoghue, who got a Congressional Medal at Fredericksburg for the Union army, and whose brother Pat, won a VC.

He said that their story, along with the stories of others “do not deserve to be forgotten”.
Military archaeologist Damian Sheils, who worked on the Tullaheady bypass site near Carrigatoher, said that the barracks could be used as a military museum, a Tipperary sports museum, as a centre for conflict resolution, a national meeting place for the ONE and for education.

He suggested funding could be obtained through ERDF, RRDF, the corporate sector and international funds such as the America Ireland Fund.

“All that is missing is the belief to do it,” he said.

Prof Ivar McGrath, associate Professor in UCD School of History, said there was “a great opportunity to do something brilliant with this site”.

Referring to the restored King House in Boyle, county Roscommon, he said that had regenerated the local economy.

Prof McGrath said that the barracks could be of great use to the local community and could be used as a heritage site, for tourism or for housing.

Michael Reynolds of Nenagh Military History Facebook page, outlined the background to the barracks and revealed that the Facebook page now had 1,600 members. He had recently launched a petition on the barracks which, so far, had been signed by over 1,000 people.

Responding to the presentation, Cllr Seamus Morris said that it made him “cross” because of the way it had been left.
However, he pointed out that a lot of property titles still needed to be sorted out.

He asked that the local TDs ask the Department of Defence to do a full title search and pointed out that there was EU funding to restore military barracks for community use.

Cllr Ger Darcy agreed that ownership was “all over the place” but said with funding, the site could add to the town’s historic quarter.

Cllr Michael O’Meara described the barracks as a “sacred site” and that those who were part of it “don’t deserve to be forgotten”.
However, he said the council could take it over without finance and they had to be “realistic”.
“The priority should be to try and stabilise it,” he said.

Cllr Joe Hannigan maintained that the “cost of not making it happen outweighs the cost of making it happen”.

The general Summerhill area was described by Cllr John Carroll as the “last great bastion of character” in Nenagh. “We don’t want to let it fall on our watch”.

District Cathaoirleach Cllr Hughie McGrath said that at times they had feared being handed the title to the property, but they now had to “get over the fear that we are being handed a poisoned chalice”.

District administrator Rosemary Joyce agreed that Nenagh had a huge amount of stories that needed to be told and passed on, but pointed out that URDF and RRDF funding came through Tiperary County Council and not the district council.

There were already a number of projects in the pipeline across the county and Nenagh had already had two successful funding streams that had to be moved on.

“The site is a strategic one and we would all like to see something happen,” she said.

However, the council was not open to taking on a site that would become a liability for them.

“You would have to know that a museum would be financial sustainable,” said Ms Joyce.

Mr Flannery replied that they were fully aware of the costs and pointed out that this was a project that would take many years.

“We are not looking for overnight solutions, but would like to see money spent on stabilising it and preventing further deterioration,” he said.

Councillors agreed to a suggestion by Cllr O’Meara that a council sub-committee be set up to progress the issue.