Intense public demand for Roscrea hotel feasibility study

The much anticipated feasibility investigating if a hotel in the centre of Roscrea town can be restored to use is anticipated to be released in the coming weeks - news which comes against the backdrop of a growing campaign to object to further development at the site of the former Racket Hall hotel on the outskirts of the town, which closed to the public last year.

The unexpected closure of the Racket Hall hotel in January of last year to repurpose the building as an emergency accommodation centre has "left a sour taste in the mouths of the people of Roscrea," a Municipal Council meeting for the area heard on Monday.

Roscrea based Independent Councillor and member of the Lowry Team, was demanding the publication of a feasibility study, formerly scheduled to be published last April, which examines if Grants Hotel on Castle Street in Roscrea can return to functionality as a hospitality business.

The landmark hotel, which closed in 2013 and was formerly known as the Pathé Hotel, is currently for sale and a proposal last year by now retired Fianna Fáil TD, Jackie Cahill and his Roscrea based party colleague, Councillor Michael Smith, for the government to purchase the building led to the feasibility study.

The elected representatives, reacting in the aftermath of the abrupt closure of Racket Hall as the townspeople protested the closure of Roscrea's only functioning hotel, proposed restoring Grants Hotel in the town centre to business, but under a 'community hotel' model similar to a successful hotel operating in Co. Monaghan.

That feasibility document, which cost €150,000 to produce, will be released to the public in the coming weeks Monday's meeting in Thurles heard, and is now at the final stages of prepublication.

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Cllr. Lee told the meeting he is being inundated with calls, emails and on social media from people demanding the results of the study, which was due to be released in April. "The people of Roscrea deserve a hotel and that is all they are asking for after the town's only hotel was scrapped from under their feet at the stroke of a pen", he said.

Shane Grogan, Senior Executive Officer at Tipperary County Council, told the meeting the report is "in the final stages" and that he understands its release has gone beyond the initially proposed timeframe and there is a strong demand among the public to see the site return to use.

"There was a lot of data and a lot of numbers to crunch and that process has now concluded and we will be back with a draft in a couple of weeks. We will be in contact with all stakeholders for a last consultation before publication and it will be released to the public in the coming weeks", Mr. Grogan said.

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Mr. Grogan said he wished to thank the people of Roscrea for the strong level of engagement and the public consultation sessions held in the Blackmills and thank the community for their patience.

"We had some very robust discussions with several people very passionate about the future of the site and the report will be released to the public in the coming weeks", he finished.