*Mayor of the Ennis MD, Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF).
PLANS FOR A €25M mixed-use development on Abbey Street car park, the abolition of six cottages on Frances Street and the construction of a €1m temporary car park in the town have been defended by the Mayor of Ennis who has claimed never to have had an issue sourcing a parking spot in the town centre.
At a heated meeting of the Ennis Municipal District this month, councillors voted 4-3 against a call to pause plans for the €25m development on Abbey Street car park. Mayor of the Ennis MD, Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) along with Cllr Mary Howard (FG), Cllr Ann Norton (IND) and Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) voted against the trio of Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG), Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF) and Cllr Pat Daly (FF) who wished to see “the box” moved to the other side of the River Fergus.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Cllr Colleran Molloy defended the decision, despite initial opposition from traders in Abbey Street. “Within the strategy there are opportunity sites, there’s nimbleness in the document, you’re not saying it is set in stone but one of the opportunity sites identified is Abbey Street as a potential location for a major new realtor presence and corporate regional headquarters presence. The idea is you’re bringing in possibly 50 office type jobs and 50 jobs in retail.
“It is of course understandable that people when they think about taking away the car spaces in Abbey Street will have concerns, I offered to speak one on one with each trader at our meeting because change is difficult, if you have consultants say, these are not people like me who don’t know, these are people who say if you build something like this in the heart of Ennis you’re going to increase footfall per week by 20,000, I’m not pulling that figure out of my head, these are substantive and substantiated figures. Nobody likes change, we’ve the traders that are not happy but yet if you flip that around, if indeed that type of footfall is to materialise would those traders not then be even more viable and profitable”.
She emphasised that “international” experts are pointing the way for the county town to progress through the Ennis 2040 Strategy. She said traders have expressed their support for the Abbey Street development, “they have come through indirectly by way of comments made to others. Even here on Abbey Street there are people in favour”.
Given the widespread criticism of the €500,000 spent on the Market Building, commonly referred to as a white elephant, business personnel are likely to be more vocal when it comes to ambitious plans. “I was not a councillor at the time of that, it is unfortunate that some of the councillors who aren’t in support of moving forward with expertly researched projects, it might be unfortunate that they had that decision made and maybe they are scared to make a mistake, nobody wants to make a mistake, at that time we didn’t have a special vehicle like Ennis 2040 to ensure you had the best possible knowledge when making decisions,” she said in relation to the Market Building.
A native of Quin, Clare insisted Abbey Street traders will be listened to. “They are going to be listened to, of course they are. You have a public consultation that is going to commence towards September, I’m not sure, of course they are going to feed into that public consultation, nobody is suggesting that the traders or any member of the public won’t have a say, they will have a say. I directly addressed the members in the public gallery, they can have their say with me and when the process unfolds, I can’t answer to what happened when the Market Building happened”.
Abbey Street’s use as a civic space during Fleadh Cheoil, Muhammad Ali’s trip to Ennis and homecomings for All-Ireland winning U21 hurling sides is likely to be restricted should the development proceed. Colleran Molloy said a detailed design hasn’t been prepared, yet. “We understand it has a substantially enhanced public realm element, moreover you have public realm enhancements from The Height into O’Connell Street down to Barrack Street, all of that could ultimately be a vehicle for these kind of civic events. When you think about it, we had super events held in other areas of Ennis such as Tim Smythe Park, the homecoming for the 2013 All-Ireland winners, you have other areas that can be worked on like non-Council owned land such as The Mart and Cusack Park”.
When asked if she was supporting a development without seeing detailed drawings for it, the Ballybeg resident replied, “I’ve seen concept designs, there was three different concept designs, they are now honing in on one of them, I haven’t seen the detailed designs because they are literally gone out to tender”.
Along with her role as Mayor, Clare also sits on the Ennis 2040 Board. She disputed the view that having a more cosy relationship with officials may have influenced her decision. “I’d hate to think so, I’m a lawyer by background, I’ve practised in Florida and Ireland, you have to have independent of thought, be impartial and listen to all views, then ultimately come to a judgement you are comfortable with. I’ve heard from other councillors who were sceptical of Ennis 2040, its overriding objective but who did their homework and are fully convinced this is the vehicle to have Ennis prosper as a town which is ultimately sandwiched between two major cities. I would discount that as a suggestion. I do agree that when you are the Mayor, you do have closer ongoing communication with the Executive because you are involved in so much but that doesn’t mean you lose your ability to have independent thoughts and assess all the facts”.
She continued, “I’m a lawyer but I also did a masters in business administration, I am married to a man who had a retail business in Ennis for more than twenty years, he has been hearing me ongoing about this and its importance since I’ve been involved, even he believes this is the right way to go but he does understand the concern of the traders. I believe this could be very positive for the traders, these figures are substantiated, if we don’t do something we will not be getting that footfall going forward. I have a business background, I have a legal background, I’m married to a man who wasn’t a trader, I’m fully aware of all the different aspects that need to come to bear to come to a decision”.
Plans to demolish a block of cottages on Francis Street to construct a temporary car park were also defended by the Mayor. “The cottages are derelict and asbestos ridden, the cost of refurbishing them is not viable, it had also been suggested to develop from glór, I wouldn’t like to live in a refurbished cottage that will then be possibly be knocked and have to hear all that noise going on as development occurs from the back forwards, I consider that preposterous”.
Zoned for mixed use, she was confident the Francis St would be developed into housing, eventually. “It’s possible that it could be entirely residential, indeed it is could be entirely affordable housing because hopefully Ennis will get the designation it has sought but for it to be viable it is my understanding that it will be predominantly residential and an aspect of retail. It has been put out there that there will be a €1m cost for 100 car spaces, if that’s correct which I don’t know for certain then I can only imagine it is the highest level of car parking, this was meant to be temporary, it would be like the Cloister with tar and chip, it would never have been the highest level as to be permanent which is why I had to dispute the figure out there.
“Anybody watching will see that some people have jumped the gun on this, national politicians stood up saying how could we knock these cottages down and it’s to build more residences. The Tanáiste was door-stepped taking questions and I thought he did a fair job, his response was that he didn’t know the details but the Council try to preserve housing, it is hardly the case that you will preserve asbestos ridden derelict properties, to be fair he gave a very good response because he said he would talk to the Minister for Housing who he was sure was talking to Clare County Council and there will be housing on the site. It will be positive and anybody opposed to it will now see that it is indeed a positive”.
Surveys by Retail Excellence Ireland have indicated that Ennis shoppers are influenced by their proximity to stores when deciding where to go. Removal of up to 75 spaces in Abbey St was referenced by Cllr Flynn, Cllr O’Callaghan and Cllr Daly when pleading to pause the plans. The Mayor said “huge works” were ongoing to source park and ride facilities while she disputed the view of Cllr Flynn that the parking deficit is between 1,000 to 2,000 and instead pointed to Council officials research which listed a deficit just shy of 50. “There’s no doubt that peak times like Christmas and major times in Ennis you’re going to have problems getting a car space, that’s true but you can’t suggest to me as a taxpayer that you want enough car spaces for every pinch point moment. I personally have never had a problem getting a car space in Ennis, I normally park up in Drumbiggle on the street, always spaces, whenever I pull into Abbey Street or the Temple Gate I always get a space, the other day I had to move from the Temple Gate over to Bank Place and I got a space no problem, in and out”.
