Frustration at RIC Barracks falling into disrepair

CONFUSION around the RIC Barracks in Clondalkin Village was magnified at a meeting of South Dublin County Council amid further frustration at the status of the site, which is falling into disrepair.

At the monthly meeting of Clondalkin, Newcastle, Rathcoole, Saggart and Brittas, Cllr Eoin Ó Broin raised a motion seeking the committee’s approval to add the RIC Barracks to the Vacant Sites Register (VSR).

The VSR is a mechanism to encourage the use of vacant lands for housing through the charging of a levy on the value of the land.

The tax applies to land zoned residential where the primary or sole use is for housing and the site size is over 0.5Ha.

In response, the council outlined that the RIC Barracks is a protected structure but as it is zoned ‘TC’ for Town Centre and the site is less than 0.5Ha, it cannot be registered under the VSR.

At the meeting, Cllr Ó Broin mentioned that he would rethink it and take a look at pushing for the site to be entered into the Derelict Sites Register.

“That’s the track I’m going to take with this,” the Social Democrats councillor told the chamber.

Cllr Francis Timmons supported the motion and stated that this issue has been pursued previously.

“I have pursued this several times,” Cllr Timmons says.

“We were told that Clondalkin Tidy Towns had done too much work on it and that it was not considered derelict because they had maintained it, painted it, cut the grass and done some great work.

“The stance then was taken not to touch it.

“But the worry is, if it is left the way it is, there won’t be an RIC barracks there because the backgarden is overgrown, we don’t know the condition.

“This is going on years. The question is, what happens next if we can’t get it on derelict sites, we can’t go this route, do we just wait for it to fall down?”

Chair of the area committee, Cllr William Carey believes some action needs to be taken, saying that it “stands as a prime location to be used for some public service in the area”.

The management of the council outlined that it was “hard to give clear advice on this” and suggested going the derelict site register route as the site is in private ownership.

There was no indication that the council were interested in purchasing the RIC Building, which is a protected structure.

Cllr Ó Broin said that “this organisation still hasn’t managed to find any building in Clondalkin as a homeless hub and there’s one sitting idle, it could be ideal.”

Cllr Timmons highlighted that “it feels like we’re going around and round in circles”.

With the contents of the motion invalid due to the site and zoning of the site, the council suggested that it would update local representatives on its status at a later date as it might be “sitting in between vacant and derelict”.

The site has been vacant for many years and is subject of a Specific Local Objective (SLO) in the South Dublin Development Plan 2022 – 2028.

This SLO states “to investigate the purchase and development of the old RIC Barracks on the Old Nangor Road which is a Protected Structure within the present Architectural Conservation Area”.

Last July, The Echo reported how attempts to serve notices on the owner of the RIC Barracks by the enforcement and derelict sites sections of the council have been “exhausted as the owner is in absentia”.