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THE FORMER OWNER of one of the houses due to be demolished in Kilkenny to make way for a new roadway has said that he is eager for the project to press ahead, despite the fact that he was effectively forced by the council to sell the property.
Michael Minogue sold the house to Kilkenny County Council in 2008 through a compulsory purchase order for “very small money”.
“It was not much at all that we got for it, even with the present day value of property, because it’s right in the middle of Kilkenny City,” he told TheJournal.ie.
The house was the first he and his wife bought, in the late 60s and they lived there with their family until the mid 70s, renting out the property up until they were obliged to sell it to the council to make way for the new roadway.
‘No historic route’
However Minogue said he is not angry at the council and instead is frustrated at the delay in demolishing the house and moving forward with the plans, which have been in place for a number of years. A local group has claimed that medieval remains – a gable wall and a shouldered chimney – at one of the 19th century houses should be protected by the council, which has asked archaeologists to assess the site.
“We were there for a long time, we had the house over 40 years and there’s no historic route in that house, I could see nothing about the place,” Minogue said. “It’s going to go ahead anyway, I don’t understand why it’s being held up for so long, it’s a waste of time and a waste of taxpayers’ money. These objections are costing us a fortune.”
Traffic in the city
The Kilkenny businessman said the council has been doing “some fantastic work” in the city and that the new road is a necessity as traffic in that area is “chockerblock every single day from 4pm onwards”.
“It’ll make a huge difference to Kilkenny at the moment,” he added. “Progress has to go on, we can’t go on living in the dark ages.”
Just last week the EU said it plans to investigate the proposal to demolish the houses for the new roadway, after a complaint from MEP Nessa Childers. The council said that while assessments by archaeologists are ongoing, “there is not sufficient evidence” to definitively date the gable wall in one of the properties.
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I‘m curious what he might have to gain by the building of the road. I‘m from Kilkenny and I cannot see any reason why any sane person would plough a big road right through the centre of our beautiful town (/city). They need to finish the ring road and divert traffic out of town͵ not divert more in through it!! I‘m sorry to say this but I am really beginning to suspect that this half baked road “plan“ was designed to go through someones land and make them a fortune. There is no other reason for vandalising the city like this. Very sad͵ shame on the worms in Kilkenny county council. Shame.
Spot on, i see no benefit what so ever to the city.
They should finish that outer ring road, look at the different doing the last bit to the castlecomer road did.
Agreed re the road, but I think those houses are an eyesore anyways.
I don’t know where councils in Ireland have got this new idea to build new roadways through city and town centres as opposed to finishing ring roads they start. The people of Kilkenny should protect their city from this needless vandalism. Sligo town was destroyed when they decided that the “bypass” – now known as the inner relief road, was rammed through the town centre. It has ruined the town’s urban fabric. The train station is cut off from the centre, streets were severed and ended with a 2-3 km stretch of road with multiple junctions and numerous traffic lights that directs traffic straight into the area it was to meant to avoid. Simply awful.
I drive this route every day, cutting a road through the medieval city will not help, only completion of our outer ringroad will. Once we loose this part of the city we’ll never get it back. Most people disagree with the New road, makes me wonder why the local council and politians are so insistent on it- what’s in it for them.
“Very small money” ya right.
Very small money in 2008,
So maybe 300-400 thousand I’m thinking, thats not small
Lets see him actually mention a figure if its that small
“cute hoor”
Somehow I doubt he’s in the mood to swap back.
Where were the complaints when they were building the houses on the hill in the 80s/90s which completely blocks the view of the cathedral? In saying that, I agree that the ring road should be finished preferably..
Kilkenny retained its lovely city centre when other places were going for plastic fantastic modern makeovers in the 60s and 70s because it was not the tourist mecca then that it is now, and basically didn’t have a local economy strong enough to make major change. It wasn’t because of some fabulously prescient thinking on the behalf of local politicians, much as they and their successors would like you to believe it was.
In the 80s and into the 90s it survived not because they suddenly realised the intrinsic value of what they had retained, but because protectionism by city traders is a very, very strong local tradition and acts to close off and block any competition from ‘outsiders’. It’s not because of some lofty ideals that Kilkenny is the only town in Ireland with no Tesco (not in itself a bad thing), it is because of the strength of this body of traders in using their political positions to see off any outside competition.
Yes, all of this inward looking protectionism has resulted in a lovely town with its medieval fabric largely retained and with some of the best streetscapes in Ireland. But that is mainly a happy accident, because much as they spout about preserving the city, really it’s not about that, it’s about preserving their own positions.
Now suddenly these same supposedly enlightened masters who claim credit when the city is admired for what it preserved want a highway cutting through the center of the city, a highway which when the ringroad it is preventing from being finished is eventually finished will become pretty much pointless.
You have to ask what is the motivation for this – is it the good of the city? Only they seem to think so, and you’d have to as why. I don’t know what’s in it for them, but there has to be something, there is no other explanation.
It’s called passing trade that’s what in it for local traders somebody drives through sees a coffee shop stops for coffee, takes a break and has a 20 minute walk and buys something. With ring road drives round the city. No stop = no passing trade
they will stop, only if they can park
This road is designed for local access traffic only. Roads do not equal trade, unless the road cuts through a town on a national route, in which case you might get someone stopping for a coffee. In any event there are no coffee shops or general retail traders on Dean Street, unless you suddenly decided you wanted to get a picture framed or buy a leg of lamb.
The house that this person owned is not the house in which Medieval remains have been identified. How would he know what is extant in No. 22 which has been in the possession of the Council for years? The Council should have ensured that proper investigations took place on the terrace back in 2008 so that they knew exactly what they were dealing with. Perhaps they thought it might be easier to remain ignorant?
The National Monuments Service is the body that ordered proper investigations to take place, under National Monument Legislation, not the campaign group. These are costs which are incurred in any development project in which national heritage is at risk. Remember No. 22 is currently on the Record of Monuments and Places (KK019-026122) and listed on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage as “C16th/17th buildings”.
Remarkable that these kinds of debates still happen in a first world European country.
Here’s one for you. When you knock it down it’s gone. Let future generations with more wit and wisdom decide whether it’s of some worth.
Having a great big stonking road through the centre of the town will not be in the best interests of the people of Kilkenny. It will do nothing for the look of the city, will make walking and cycling in that part of town more dangerous, and generally make that part of town an eyesore. I would rather we pause for thought *before* it’s destroyed, never mind future generations looking back and realising it was a crazy thing to do. If there was no alternative then YES, bring on progress! but there IS an alternative. Madness.
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