Pic: John Walsh
Enniscorthy Courthouse, which has been empty for almost six years.
WEXFORD COUNTY Council has stated that they would welcome any interest in using Enniscorthy Courthouse from public or community users, following calls from two Town Councillors to make use of the currently empty building.
Calls came from Cllr. Tom Moorehouse, who suggested the building be used as social welfare offices while Cllr. James Browne stated that the Courts Service should re-look at the building, with a view to refurbishing and reopening it as a court again.
But Deputy County Manager, Tony Larkin stated that, at present, there was “nothing on the horizon” in terms of any group moving into the building.
FineGaelTownCouncillor Tom Moorehouse told The Echo: “To re-house the social welfare office in it would be fantastic, it would be a practical function for a disused building that is situated in the heart of the town.”
Responding to Cllr. Moorehouse’s call, Mr. Larkin said: “The Co. Council would have no objection to such a move but it’s a matter for the Social Welfare services to express an interest.”
He also warned that any group with an interest in moving into the building would have to have the funding to bring it up to scratch themselves: “Our difficulty is that we have no funding to allocate to such a project as refurbishing the court. It’s a fine building; we just don’t have the money to do further work.”
Enniscorthy Courthouse has been empty for almost six years after the Courts Service moved the District Court to Gorey Courthouse. TheCo.Council regained ownership of the building approximately 18 months ago.
Over half a million euro was spent on the building by the Office of Public Works at the request of the Court Service, including installing new heating and electrical systems and fixing the roof. The building closed for work to be carried out but never reopened.
The empty courthouse has been the subject of much local debate and has been raised at numerous Town and Co. Council meetings.
“We have made its availability known to state agencies and users in the public and community domain that we are open to people moving into the building but at the moment, there’s nothing on the horizon,” said Mr. Larkin.
“We’re not planning to refurbish it for our own use at the moment. Enniscorthy’s infrastructure is good so it’s not a priority project.”
Pic: John Walsh
Brand new electrical and heating connections were installed in the courthouse before the Court Service moved out and handed ownership back to Wexford Co. Council.
