Historic Mayo building 'will end up as another derelict'

A Castlebar councillor has pleaded with management of Mayo County Council not to let Marsh House become "another derelict building in the town".

Cllr Ger Deere raised the matter at the September meeting of the council, noting that the building was the former headquarters of Castlebar Town Council and had been used by the Educate Together National School for several years but was now "lying idle".

"We don’t want another Imperial Hotel type building lying idle and rotting there," he said, referring to the derelict building on the Mall, which is in council ownership. "There is an urgent need for Castlebar Municipal District to have its own proper base and its own place to hold events. 

“Marsh House was used before for Castlebar Town Council and I want to see it being used again, and also to have a meeting room where we as a municipal district can bring people in comfort. The plan before was to have this in the Imperial but that is lost now and we don’t want another one lost.” 

Cllr Blackie Gavin supported the motion and called on the council chief executive Kevin Kelly “to have a full report on Marsh House for the next meeting”.

"Is it available to others, as there are plenty of community groups and organisations looking for places to lease," he asked. “Everyone knows after a couple of months of no occupancy a building gets damp and damaged, and if this happens, Marsh House will end up as another derelict building in the town of Castlebar and it will cost another couple of million to do it up again.”

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.