Councillor says safety measures around derelict Tipperary pub not good enough
Council under fire for its response to concerns raised by Cllr Kieran Bourke about the facade of the former Tír na nÓg pub on Carrick-on-Suir’s Main Street
A councillor worried about the danger posed by the facade wall of a derelict former pub on Carrick-on-Suir's Main Street has told council management he is going to check with its insurer whether the local authority is exposed to liability if the wall collapses.
Cllr Kieran Bourke posed the question of whether the council could be deemed partially responsible if the facade of the privately owned former Tír na nÓg premises collapses at Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District's monthly meeting in Carrick Town Hall last Thursday.
He reminded representatives of the Council's Environment Section that following a fire at the derelict premises a number of years ago the local authority carried out demolition works on that site that left only the facade wall of the building standing.
“Have we left ourselves exposed to some form of responsibility as it was ourselves that left that wall the way it is,” asked the Fianna Fáil councillor who pressed again at the meeting for the Council to take action to reduce the facade to a safe level.
Cllr Bourke said he was going to write to former Tipperary councillor John Hogan, who is chairman of the Council's insurer IPB Insurance to express his concern and ask if the council is exposed to liability in this matter.
Denis Holland of Tipperary County Council's Environment Section responded that he doubted very much any intervention by the local authority on that site would have left it in a dangerous condition though subsequent events may have rendered the building more dangerous than it was previously.
Earlier at the meeting, Cllr Bourke sharply criticised the Council for not getting back to him after he raised the condition of the Tír na nÓg facade at Carrick MD's April meeting.
The meeting heard that the hoarding around the facade has been extended out onto the street and bollards have been erected around it preventing the public from parking vehicles outside the facade and walking on the footpath.
Council engineer Ben O'Keeffe explained to councillors that large Kelly Blocks have been installed inside the hoarding and fixed to the hoarding to prevent the hoarding falling back onto the street if the facade collapsed. He said this measure improved public safety.
Cllr Bourke welcomed the safety measures and thanked Mr O'Keeffe for this information but he believed they weren’t good enough and reiterated that the wall should still be brought down to a safe level.
“This is a seriously dangerous structure and I think Tipperary County Council needs to step up to the plate,” he declared.
He said that even though the property is privately owned, the council needs to make this site safe and take down the front wall.
“If we don't take it down, it's going to fall down and hopefully not kill someone,” he warned.
He pointed out that he didn't raise this issue to grandstand but because he was concerned.
This structure was in the middle of the Main Street and nobody seemed to want to do anything about it, he complained before vowing to keep raising the issue at every council meeting until he received proper answers.
Fellow Carrick-on-Suir Cllr David Dunne, who is Carrick MD's Cathaoirleach, said he felt Cllr Bourke's frustration and he was also disappointed a council representative didn’t come back to his colleague to update him.
He said it was very important the facade of this former pub is dealt with and the structure is not left in this state. He noted that a disabled parking space and a second parking space have been taken away on the street because of the extension of the protective hoarding around the facade.
Cllr Dunne said Cllr Bourke had years of experience in the building trade and he was not “over egging” it when he said it was a dangerous structure that could potentially lead to loss of life if it collapsed.
Mr Holland said he took on board Cllr Bourke's comments and suggestions and acknowledged his concern.
He explained that the primary responsibility for any privately owned dangerous structure rests with its owner. The Council has been actively engaging with the owners and it did erect hoarding around the site to remove any immediate danger.
He apologised if no council staff got back to Cllr Bourke after he raised the issue last month and promised to keep councillors informed of any progress in the situation.
Mr Holland said if the Council's engagement with the property owners doesn't reach a satisfactory conclusion, it will issue a statutory notice requiring them to carry out specific works to make the structure no longer dangerous.
If this work wasn't completed, the Council has the authority to go on the site and carry out the works, which more than likely would be a complete demolition.
“If we don't have a fruitful outcome, we will have no hesitation in going down the legal route,” he said adding that it would take time and involve substantial costs that would impact on the Council's budget.
Cllrs Dunne responded that no one will object to going over budget if it prevents a death. “What cost do you put on a life,” asked Cllr Bourke. He said he had a fair idea of how much it would cost to take down the wall and it wouldn't break a budget as it wasn't a big cost at all.
Mr Holland said from his experience these cases are problematic due to ownership issues and in this case they were dealing with a structure located in an Architectural Conservation Area.