Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

When he comes one of the first things he will see is the fine castle. This is a fine example of a circular keep, is in good order and is a symbol of the town. It is located in the town near the church, the courthouse, the jail and other buildings of significance and heritage. It has been the dream of many people in Nenagh that the castle and its environs would be developed as a tourism project. It is urgent that this happens because Nenagh does not have any natural tourist draw and this project could be that draw. Many people have worked hard for this and Shannon Development — when it was allowed to develop regional tourism — was very supportive as well. The political forces in the town have supported this project, including Nenagh Town Council. The council put its money where its mouth was and purchased two buildings on Pearse Street in order to allow an access on to the street. The permission was not granted for the demolition of the two buildings so we are now in a different scenario.

In recent times, I and other public representatives were asked by Nenagh Town Council to contact the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government regarding this issue. The council would like to obtain legal control of the property around the castle so that it can carry out works. At the moment, there is also some anti-social activity in the area and it is gathering litter. If the town council had legal control over it, the area could be developed into a public park and a nice amenity. The town council asked for a meeting with the Minister but did not receive a reply until recently. In November, I received a reply from the Minister on this issue. In it, he requested me to ask the OPW to carry out yet another report on the project. Rather than proceeding as the OPW proposed, the Minister has now asked the OPW to go back to square one. This means that more time will elapse before anything happens. In his letter, the Minister states that he has requested the OPW to carry out a further study in accordance with details outlined in the letter. This would result in a scaled down project. It is my concern that the Minister is planning to scale down the project and do less than the community wants to do.

Effectively, the clock could go backwards on this project, which is very important to the town. The Minister may know that representatives from his own party gave many commitments on this issue in the past. It is vital for the tourism potential of Nenagh, which is simply not being realised. However, if the castle project could be developed, much more would follow, such as a heritage centre in the jail. The OPW is currently finishing what looks like a magnificent job on the courthouse, just across the road from the castle. There is the potential for the development of a number of fine buildings, most of them heritage buildings. I appeal to the Minister to speed up this project and to communicate with Nenagh Town Council. There will be no solid progress on this issue without that level of communication and drive from the Department.