Council won't purchase Naas eyesore

KILDARE County Council has confirmed it won’t issue a compulsory purchase order (CPO) on a famous Naas eyesore – The Market House – which has been on the derelict register for almost ten years, costing its owner more than half its value in levies.

Instead, the council is investigating whether it can include the 212-year-old property in the next round of Urban Regeneration Development Funding (URDF).

“Market House was identified by the council as a property that may be appropriate for this funding,” said Fiona Byrne, regeneration officer at the council’s housing section. “The fund is available to Kildare County Council to buy properties, such as Market House, by agreement or compulsorily, but acquired properties must then be offered for sale to the private market and this fund can only be used to bring properties back into residential use,” she clarified.

This was revealed at last week’s monthly meeting of the councillors from the Naas Municipal District, following a motion from cllr Bill Clear. He had asked that the council ‘commences the process of compulsory purchase of the Market House for the benefit of the community’.

‘This landmark and historically significant site has been derelict for 15 years, creating an eyesore and detracting from the appeal of the harbour area,’ he said.

It was cllr Clear himself put the property formally on the derelict register in April 2015.

‘A CPO of the property would allow for the restoration of this property, would enhance the local environment, preserve its historical value and allow it to be used for community development,’ he argued.

However, Ms Byrne did not encourage cllr Clear in her formal reply.

‘To do that, the council must advertise the details of any proposed compulsory purchase in the local newspaper … and also send a notice to the owner, giving them information about how and where to object to the proposed acquisition,’ she explained. ‘Where a CPO is confirmed, compensation must be paid to the registered owner, so funding for this must be identified.

‘In order to bring this property back into use for community development the costs would also need to include the substantial construction and refurbishment works, along with resources identified to manage such a property once brought back into use, and these costs are not included in the current capital programme,’ she revealed.

However, then she offered her silver lining.

‘The third round of the Urban Regeneration Development Fund was announced last year and specifically targeted at addressing long-term vacancy and dereliction in towns [and] Market House was identified by the council as a property that may be appropriate for this funding,’ she wrote.

“From a Tidy Towns point of view, this place was mentioned in the recent IBAL report,” said cllr Clear, who is chair of Naas Tidy Towns. He was referring to the recent award bestowed on Naas when it was deemed the most litter-free town in Ireland last month.

“The Tidy Towns paint it, we fenced it, trim the trees … there’s litter there for the last ten years,” he said. “We’re tired of it now and it’s a disgrace. As chair of Naas Tidy Towns, I put it on the derelict register, but we’re fed up with it. It was one of the most beautiful properties in Market Square and people have gotten used to looking at it as a derelict site.

“I don’t think it’s suitable for housing, maybe as a canal building, or bike hostel or scouts hostel for kayaking,” he proposed.

“We at Naas Tidy Towns would be willing – if a company purchased it – would be willing to take control of the building, apply for funding as a waterway hub, and we believe it would have a great chance to put it to community use,” he said.

“It would be a project I would personally drive on. I’m confident we at Tidy Towns can do it, and be sympathetic with the heritage,” he concluded.

This property is on the derelict sites register and the council continues to monitor the situation. Engagement is ongoing with the property owner, Pat Keane, landlord of The Hanged Man in Milltown. Mr Keane had his fourth attempt to convert it into apartments turned down last April.

The 212-year-old Market House – built two years before the Battle of Waterloo – has been on the derelict sites register since April 2015, and it is believed the owner has already paid over half of the site’s value in levies in the last eight years (estimated value €600,000, with annual levies of seven per cent costing the owner €42,000 a year).

The house most famously belonged to JK Bracken, a Fenian and one of the seven original founders of the GAA in 1884.

The last resident, Ms Bracken, was a niece of John Devoy and her daughter is the local solicitor Ríoghnagh Bracken, who is part of a number of local preservation groups.