NEWS: Councillor calls for revival and reuse of the old Tipperary workhouse

A Fine Gael councillor has once more called for the revival and imaginative reuse of the old Tipperary town workhouse.

At the February meeting of the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District, Councillor John Crosse raised the old Tipperary town workhouse during a presentation by Maria O’Donnell of the Munster Vales tourism initiative.

Councillor Crosse expressed gratitude to Damien Ginty, the council’s director of services for culture, and warmly embraced the renewed enthusiasm for breathing new life into the old workhouse.

"We spoke at a previous meeting in Clonmel about the benefits and the issues around trying to find a solution for issues in our constituency, and Damien [Ginty] spoke to me afterwards as well, and he listened to me about the old workhouse on the Station Road in Tipperary town,” Cllr Crosse said.

"My understanding is that Mr Ginty has since looked at that, and I know there’s a huge amount of money and investment to bring it back to fruition and bring it back to use, but I want to thank Damien for that, and thank you for listening to me,” he said.

"If there was any way that the workhouse could be brought to fruition, I know it’s probably a long-term project, but we should be the ones leading the way in getting work advanced in Tipperary town; it has potential,” he added.

Constructed between 1839 and 1841, before the Famine, the Tipperary town workhouse now stands as a fading relic, its walls bearing the marks of years of neglect.

Efforts in the 2000s to transform the old workhouse into a hostel were halted in 2010 due to financial setbacks. Left abandoned, the building has since suffered the scars of multiple fires and relentless vandalism.