An Taisce disappointed Council did not purchase former school
An Taisce have expressed disappointment that the City Council didn’t make an effort to buy the old Piscatorial School at the Claddagh – there has been considerable speculation this week that the property has been bought by a local developer.
The listed building – dating back to the mid-1800s – is owned by the Dominican Order and last year the Council had been in discussions with them to secure a five-year lease on the property.
However, according to the Council, the Order opted earlier this year to go down the road of a straight sale on the building, with a €500,000 guide price outlined by agents DVA Donal Ó Buachalla and Power & Associates.
However, in a letter to Galway An Taisce Chair, Derrick Hambleton, the Council outlined that they were ‘currently precluded’ from raising loans in relation to the purchase of buildings and were therefore not in a position to make an offer for the property.
Mr Hambleton told the Galway City Tribune that An Taisce were ‘extremely disappointed’ the local authority hadn’t made any effort to purchase the building at a time when €7 million of public monies was being ‘poured’ into the arthouse cinema.
“It will be an incredible loss to the city if this building is lost to the commercial sector. The Piscatorial School building would be a perfect location to highlight the cultural heritage of the Claddagh and its links to the Eglinton Canal and the Claddagh Basin,” said Mr Hambleton.
He added that he was also ‘extremely disappointed’ that the Dominican Order hadn’t even bothered to acknowledge correspondence received from An Taisce seeking a meeting with them as regards the future of the building.
“I don’t really know whether the building has been sold off or not but if it has, it will be a major loss to the culture of the city and to the general community,” said Mr Hambleton.
Senior Executive Officer for Arts and Culture with the City Council, Gary McMahon, wrote to An Taisce early last month, outlining how they had in 2015 tried to secure a lease [minimum five years] of the building from the Dominicans.
“Our intention was to link the former school with our emerging plans in relation to the development of a museum/cultural quarter to form a triangle of interest from the City Museum and the Spanish Arch to the Fisheries Tower, the school and the Claddagh Basin,” Mr McMahon stated in his letter.
He said that this would have ‘allowed a wonderful opportunity’ to highlight and enhance the significant local history and heritage of the Claddagh into an overarching programme of heritage interest in the city.
The Piscatorial School [the name comes from matters relating to fishing] – located beside Claddagh Church – dates back to 1846 when the Dominicans built it for the purpose of educating local children in literacy as well as practical skills such a making fishing nets and sewing.
By the early 1900s, it was functioning as a conventional primary school while in more recent times it housed the city’s social welfare office for a number of years and was also used as a vocational training centre.
The Galway City Tribune could not get confirmation of the property being sold off to a private developer although there was considerable speculation this week that a local company – specialising in apartment conversions and constructions – had acquired the iconic building.