*Cllr Gabriel Keating. Photograph: Natasha Barton
NEW USES FOR the old courthouse in Kilkee are to be considered.
Separate motions were tabled before the March meeting of the West Clare Municipal District regarding the courthouse. Last used in December 2008, a total refurbishment of the Courthouse was estimated to cost €250,000 when figures were calculated in 2012.
Regeneration of the courthouse as part of a town and village renewal scheme was suggested by Cllr Cillian Murphy (FF) while Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) proposed it be considered as a maritime museum.
Officials in the Rural Development Directorate of Clare County Council have said they will consider available funding from the Department of Rural and Community Development which could support project development such as a feasibility study and planning. This would be competing with other projects submitted locally for the same pool of Department funding.
Labelled as an “important part of the landscape of Kilkee,” the Courthouse serves “an eyesore in the middle of one of our busiest tourist towns”. He praised efforts within the Council to tackle dereliction. He felt there was “a very clear vision on how it should be developed and in what form” locally.
A demand exists to develop artists in residence projects from the location, the Kilkee representative stated. “There is backing in the community for this to happen. There are lot of artists in the county, there is an arts cluster in the Peninsula, it is one of the key attributes”. He added, “We could create something special for Kilkee if we were to take on the building, creates a valuable opportunity to have a building of scale, it would have a dramatic transformational effect on Kilkee”.
“I’m not a believer in one size fits all, mine is for a maritime museum, you all know the history of the area, I am requesting them to do something about this old courthouse,” Cllr Keating stated.
Question marks remain on the ownership of the building, he said. “It is a prime location in the centre of Kilkee and you could do anything with it, I felt a maritime museum, the history of the place hasn’t been forgotten about. There is a great opportunity but Council need to find out who owns it. I cannot understand how we got the same reply”.
Both proposals were seconded by Cllr Shane Talty (FF). “It is a project that requires the feasibility study to determine future use. Everyone agrees it needs to be developed but it is the use that needs to be developed”.
Senior executive officer in the West Clare MD, John O’Malley outlined, “it definitely fits the headline of what the Department looking for in village renewal, from the projects getting approval it is building element and public realm. You could connect it all together by having a nice public realm section, it is something on our agenda, we need to look at it from a feasibility study”.
Plans for the Courthouse were turned down in the past, Murphy reminded the meeting, “because other projects were better or for geographical spread. I have all the documentation on my laptop. It isn’t a big piece of work. I don’t care what goes in there as long as something goes in and that it is viable and can wash its face”.
