Important, derelict house in Offaly village to go on sale

THE May meeting of Birr MD was told that an important building on Main Street, Shinrone, which has been vacant since the mid noughties and derelict for years, has been compulsorily purchased by the County Council.

The Town Regeneration Officer Olwen Cummins told the meeting that there are 21 vacant dwellings in Shinrone, five of which are derelict.

"One of the buildings is currently being CPOd," she remarked. "All five derelict buildings are on the Derelict Sites Register."

Cllr Peter Ormond said the CPOd building in Shinrone is “old Canon John Hannan's house; it took two years to get to the CPO stage with that house. There's good news in that an auctioneer has recently been appointed and the house is going to be put up for sale next week. It's a prominent building on the village's Main Street and it's important something is done with it.

"No owners have yet come forward in relation to the five derelict sites. We need to speed up the process of tackling the significant vacant dwelling problem in the county; because there are so many people looking for houses and there's a big number of vacant dwellings in the county. The process is too long. 18 months is the shortest time to get through the CPO process. It can cost €10,000 to undertake it.” Ms Cummins said “Derelict” means “visually obtrusive”; whereas “Vacant” dwellings look ok but but no one is living in them.

The Council's Vacant Homes Officer has surveyed 856 vacant homes in Offaly, 395 of which are now labelled as being either vacant or derelict. There are 174 vacant dwellings in Birr MD and 78 are in Birr Town. Of the 174 vacant dwellings, 26 are derelict. 186 applications have been received from members of the Offaly public since the beginning of the Vacant Homes Refurbishment Grant.

Canon John Hannan was Parish Priest of Shinrone for a number of years. He featured in an RTE programme "Life in a rural community" in 1964.