Disappointed at failure to tackle Tullamore's derelict buildings

8th July 2018

OFFALY County Council has been criticised for failing to tackle the problem of derelict buildings and sites in Tullamore town centre by a veteran local politician.

Fine Gael's Cllr Tommy McKeigue said he was “disappointed the council hadn't taken action to tackle some of the derelict sites in town.”

“The Council has now taken on a number of new staff, for the first time in many years, and I thought they would have more action taken to tackle the problem by now,” he added.

The Spollenstown based public representative said the problem of derelicts sites was replicated in Clara and in some of the smaller towns and villages in the area.

Cllr McKeigue warned the council will be in a position to impose a derelict site levy when a register of such sites is drawn up as has happened in other parts of the country.

“It's a crude instrument but it may bring results,” he added.

The councillor, who has been a Tidy towns volunteer in Tullamore for many years, was particularly critical of the state of the old Texas department store site.

“It wouldn't take a whole pile to clean it up and make it more presentable,” he added.

However, Cllr McKeiue noted that the overall appearance of the town centre had improved recently and he welcomed the opening of a number of new businesses.

“The old ESB which has been vacant for over ten years now has a let sign on it,' he outlined.

Continued the FG man: “Hopefully the council will now get its act together and some of the derelict buildings will be addressed.”

“There's only about eight of them in the town centre in total,” he estimated.