THE Courts Service is prepared to hand over the old Courthouse at Killaloe, Deputy Michael McNamara has confirmed. He described this as very good news, adding that he had been working on the issue for some time.
The Labour deputy said Clare Council Council has already expressed an interest in acquiring the building for community use.
“The Council will now have an opportunity to invite expressions of interest from local groups for the development and use of the building. I am aware of community groups in Killaloe who are interested in the using the property. The current use of Tulla Courthouse by the community is a precedent for what could be done,” he said.
“A new round of Leader funding will become available for development by local community groups towards the end of the end of this year. Furthermore, at the end of last year, the Government announced a Built Heritage Jobs Leverage Scheme to assist owners/occupiers of protected structures to repair and conserve these historic structures and the support the employment of skilled and experienced conservation professionals, craft workers and tradespeople.
“A detached five bay, two-storey building, the Court House was built in the 1830’s and is an important part of Killaloe’s history. I made a submission on how it might be developed to the Killaloe Strategic Development Plan and have been in correspondence with both the Courts Service and Clare County Council on a regular basis,” Deputy McNamara added.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.