Convent roof would have collapsed without immediate intervention

The roof of the Convent of Mercy in Ballina would have collapsed within the next ten years if volunteers had not intervened with essential works in the last number of months, it has been revealed.

On Easter Sunday, it was announced that the Sisters of Mercy, the religious order that built the convent in the 1860s, would be handing the building over to the newly-formed charity, Ballina Convent Regeneration, which will carry out an ongoing and extensive revival project on the historic building in the years ahead.

After it closed in 2008, the convent building suffered from vandalism and deterioration caused by a combination of water ingress, rot and mould. Ballina Convent Regeneration voluntary director and local councillor Mark Duffy revealed the extent of the issues.

“When the windows were boarded up, that caused a lot of wet rot and dry rot. The building was pitch black on the inside and the gutters would have overflowed because they weren’t maintained which caused a lot of water ingress which in turn caused a lot of damage,” he said. “Over the Christmas period, we had volunteers who removed plywood blocking the light into each room. Allowing light in has helped to air out the building and to dry it out. We also cleaned out as much of the gutters that were overflowing with vegetation and soil.”

The charity’s meeting with engineers and visiting professors from the University of Notre Dame revealed the danger the building faced if nothing had been done.

“They said if we don’t intervene now, the roof would collapse within a ten-year because of its trajectory in terms of the wet rot and the dry rot,” said Cllr Duffy. “Thankfully, we have begun to arrest the deterioration at an early stage to stop the decline of the building and have it in a holding pattern while consultation takes place to create the best plan of future use for the site that meets the needs of the people of the community.”

Cllr Duffy said there will be significant capital costs and the revival project will be quite extensive, but the intervention has been very timely.

“The building condition itself is not bad, there are isolated spots where it is bad but otherwise, it is in quite decent condition.

“It will need full rewiring and re-plumbing but thankfully we are intervening at a time when you can slowly turn the trajectory of the building.

“It is important we support this project. The Sisters have been very encouraging of this project, it came from them initially and it has great potential.”