Council to Develop Ennis Post Office Field

Clare People, Tuesday, 7th November 2006

by Ronan Judge

The Post Office field in Ennis has been targeted as the site for a proposed new two-storey library for the town. Last night (Monday), Ennis Town Council approved a request from the Town Manager to apply for funding from the Department of Environment and An Comhairle Leabharlanna. The development would see a library built on 0.3 acres of a section of the field fronting onto Bank Place.

Unveiling the plans, Tom Coughlan, Town Manager, stated the proposed development would encompass 25,000 sq. feet, a staff carpark, dual access as well as a large glass fronted decking area that would overlook the river. According to Mr. Coughlan, it is likely that the present site of the de Valera Library which is owned by Clare County Council, will be sold to pay for the cost of the development, although the gallery area may be retained.

Re-development of the current site is considered problematic due to the likely disruption to services. Consideration would also be given to housing the Headquarters of Clare Library Services in the same building. The Post Office field is currently zoned amenity and any development will constitute a material contravention to the Ennis and Environs Developement Plan and will require the council to adopt a variation to the plan.

Mr. Coughlan said the matter needed to be urgently addressed as both the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and An Comhairle Leabharlanna plan to scale back the level of funding they normally make available to such projects.

Ennis Town Council had previously voted that any future usage of the field be determined by the Civic Trust who were due to prepare a report on the matter. However, following advice from the Office of Public Works (OPW), it was decided to delay completion of the report until the OPW conducted their own report into the fields' position as a flood plain for the nearby River Fergus.

Councillor Donal O'Beara (GP) stated that the de Valera Library be kept as a public space and not given over to commercial development. Councillor Frankie Neylon asked "What is going to happen to the rest of the field? It seems to me that we made a decision that the field would not be used and now we are changing it". Councillor Peter Considine (FF) stressed that Bank Place reflected Ennis as a modern prosperous town and that any developement "should be sensitive to the ethos of the area".

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