Council seeks further €1.25m funding to clean up large derelict site in Carrick-on-Suir

Tipperary County Council is applying for a further €1.25m in funding to assist it with the clean-up of the former Goldcrop site in Carrick-on-Suir that will include the removal of dangerous asbestos and other contaminants from the 2.7 acres derelict property.

Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District’s Director of Services Brian Beck has informed the district’s councillors that the council has lodged an expression of interest for this grant under the latest round of EU Just Transition funding.

If the council secures the grant, it will bring the amount the council has secured to clear the site to €2.5m.

This would be enough to fully clear the property “fingers crossed”, he told the latest monthly meeting of Carrick Municipal District councillorsin Carrick Town Hall. 

Carrick-on-Suir Cllr Kieran Bourke welcomed the update on the Goldcrop project as “great news” and asked if the council will be required to carry out an archaeological inspection of the site and report due to its close proximity to Ormond Castle.

If this was required, he feared it will “eat up a hell of a lot of your budget”.

Mr Beck responded that a large portion of the costs will be spent on getting rid of contaminants on the site including a lot of asbestos. The rules for removing such contaminants have changed and costs have gone up.

Mr Beck said he wasn't sure what archaeological conditions were listed on the planning permission obtained by the council for the demolition of buildings and clean-up of the site but they weren’t “greatest worry”. Rather it was trying to ascertain the costs of removing the contaminants. Specialist contractors will have to be engaged to do this work.

“We hope to have a contractor on site this year for the demolition and hope to have everything done by this time next year,” he revealed.

The planning application requires the clean up to be completed by 2028, Mr Beck added

Tipperary County Council purchased the long-time derelict site from the Cork based Goldcrop company in 2022 with the help of €400,000 funding from the Government’s Town & Village Renewal Scheme Buildings Acquisition Measure.

In addition to the funding it has secured to date to clean up the site, the council has obtained EU Just Transition funding to devise a masterplan for its redevelopment. Work is currently underway on drafting that plan.

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