No contact with owners of derelict Offaly workhouse for at least a year

A RECENT meeting in Birr was told that there has been no contact with the owners of the Workhouse for at least a year.

During the AGM of Birr 20:20 Vision in the Birr Civic Offices a member of Birr 20:20 Vision asked the meeting was there any update on the future of the workhouse?

Cllr John Carroll told the meeting that Birr 20:20 had been working positively with the owners of the premises, a Canadian / Chinese company called Castle Rook, “but then Covid hit and things seemed to lose focus. At one stage, prior to Covid, Castle Rook was in the process of submitting a planning application to the Council but then it fell away. Now no one is sure what the future holds.”

The councillor underlined the point that the premises is privately owned and therefore the local authority cannot take action to shore up the building from further decay. “Unfortunately,” he remarked, “the building is decaying. It was badly damaged by fire a few years ago and it's just been deteriorating since. It is sad because it is a very important building.”

Castle Rook refers to itself as “a dementia care company”. In February 2022 the company told the Midland Tribune, via email, that it was still committed to its project in Birr Workhouse.

For the last three years the restoration of the severely dilapidated and historic building has been in development limbo, with no sign of any work starting.

There had been great hope for the building's future back in 2018 when an exciting project was announced for it. However, since then no work occurred.

In February 2022 the director of Castle Rook, Candace Lafleur, told The Midland Tribune: "Yes, we are still committed to the project. However, over Covid our financing for the project has stalled and we are looking to pick this back up toward the end of this year."

Many in the Birr area fear that the former Workhouse will become even more severely dilapidated in the coming months and years.

Since the inception of Birr 20:20 in 2015, the restoration of the Workhouse has always been in the group's sights.

In September 2018 a Birr 20:20 meeting was told that the building had been purchased by Castle Rook, a Canadian/Chinese company with its Irish base in Louth, and restoration would get underway, focusing initially on the roofs (which are in a very bad way). The building was also badly damaged by fire in 2017 started by a group of young vandals.

Detailed plans were shown during the September 2018 meeting to great enthusiasm. Access, the meeting was told, had been secured to the left of the building, leading past a proposed museum.

Castle Rook said it was proposing to transform the Workhouse into a centre providing care for those with dementia.

The proposed centre would provide a roofed pavilion for seating; a landscaped sculpture park; a glass walled dining area to retain connection with the public café, a community day care centre, crèche and playground.

The public and residential areas, while having a degree of interaction, would be secured with a biometric fence, allowing security for residents, with a degree of freedom of movement. Thirty residents would be housed in the main building, eventually rising to 70.

Mylo robots would also be in use. The Mylo robot connects to the resident's wristband and can monitor heartbeat and bloodpressure, as well as being programmable as a reminder not only for medication times, but also for ‘me time’ at the treatment centre.

The September 2018 meeting was also told that capital was in place for the purchase and initial works.