*Photograph: Páraic McMahon
ENNIS’ MARKET Building has reopened to the public with Clare County Council engaging the services of a private security company.
On Tuesday, Clare County Council confirmed that the building which was built at a cost of €500,000 as part of a wider €1.75m development, has reopened.
Fifteen public car parking spaces are provided in the Market Building. Anti-social behaviour in November promoted the closure of the building on “workplace safety, health and public welfare concerns” according to a spokesperson for the County Council.
Elected members in the Ennis Municipal District this month voiced their annoyance at not being consulted prior to the closure.
A private security company has been hired by the Council “on a temporary basis to facilitate the reopening of the facility and to ensure that all available public car parking spaces are operational with immediate effect,” the Council spokesperson confirmed.
When the initial closure of the building was announced last month, the Council told The Clare Echo reports that they were to hire a security company to police the building were untrue.
Opting to hire the private security company has happened “following a review,” the spokesperson confirmed. “In the intervening period, the Local Authority has engaged with An Garda Síochána to address ongoing anti-social behaviour at the facility”. The spokesperson added, “Clare County Council wishes to acknowledge the business community and public for their patience and understanding during the period of closure”.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Mayor of the Ennis MD, Cllr Pat Daly stated, “It is too costly a building to leave idle”. He said, “due to the anti-social behaviour that happened there a couple of weeks ago, Ennis MD had no choice but to close it. Now they have no choice but to reopen it due to the huge lack of parking in the Market and throughout the town”.
Anti-social behaviour in the Market area has subsided, Cllr Daly maintained. He said traders in the area were keen to see the facility reopen. “I intend in the New Year to try and get something going there in the building, there’s many views out there like a coffee dock or an antique market, it is an amenity for the general public and I’d like the community to advise the Ennis MD on what they would like there”.
