Built in 1839, the Courthouse in Tipperary Town has been allowed by its owners, Tipperary County Council, to slip into a derelict hulk.
Numerous efforts have been made over the years to convince the Council to protect and restore the Courthouse, but to no avail. The building has slowly deteriorated to the extent that gaping holes now exist in the roof in a number of places.
The Tipperary Star reported in 2013 that Councillor Denis Leahy warned the Council that the building was being neglected and was "endangered" by lack of progress on repairs.
According to the newspaper, Cllr Leahy requested management to give a full report regarding works undertaken or works scheduled to take place on Tipperary Courthouse which is a listed Protected Structure and protected by law according to Part IV of the Planning and Development Act 2000. “There is a legal requirement on us to do something about it,” said Cllr Leahy.
Five years later, the Council has done nothing except ignore and neglect the building.
The Tipperary Star also reported at the time that the legal profession in Tipperary Town had taken legal action to require the Council to protect the building. This legal action was unsuccessful and the Council continued to allow the building to fall into serious and damaging disrepair.
The #march4tipp campaign includes the restoration of the Courthouse as an issue that needs to be dealt with. In a recent interview with Tipperary Mid West Radio, a spokesperson for #march4tipp said that the Council is the regulator of derelict buildings and is the body that would serve a notice on the owner of a building that allowed it to become derelict. "Will the Council serve a notice on themselves?", he asked.
In May 2013 the Council published its "Tipperary Town & Environs Development Plan 2013 - 2019". In the plan, the Courthouse was listed as a "protected structure". As the owner of the property, the Council must have a different interpretation of what it means to "protect" something.
Our heritage needs custodians. The Council ought to be one such custodian. Instead, it has vandalised our heritage by deliberately allowing a once magnificent courthouse of 179 years standing to crumble and decay. The Council has not heeded its own elected representatives. It paid no need to the legal profession. It has not heeded its own development plan. The Council is deaf to all who care about our heritage it would seem.
Perhaps the community, through #march4tipp, can make the Council sit up and carry out its statutory and moral duty and restore our Courthouse.
Below is an image of the Courthouse in better times.
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