ESB connection delays the opening of Tullow Road community hub by months

THE €4.5m Tullow Road multi-functional community hub is on course to be structurally complete within a month, but a delay in connecting the building to the electricity grid means it could sit unused through the winter, Carlow County Council was told.

Chief executive of the council, Coilín O’Reilly, told councillors that the project was “nearly complete,” with a month or so of work remaining. However, he said the council had been informed that the ESB connection would not go ahead until, possibly, the second quarter of next year – April, May or June – creating what he described as difficulties for commissioning and practical completion.

Responding to a point raised by cllr John Cassin on ESB and Irish Water connections, Mr O’Reilly told the meeting: “We’ve got the letter back saying the ESB will engage, (but) that engagement hasn’t happened yet. But I do think, as councillors, it probably would be no harm for you to call them as well, like you do with Irish Water.

“There are so many bits and pieces hanging around Carlow and the ridiculousness of having the Tullow Road community centre fully complete and sitting there for five months through winter where kids could be in there and people could using it – it just makes no sense to me,” he added.

According to draft minutes of the council’s July meeting, cllr Cassin’s motion on ESB delays was agreed on a show of hands, seconded by cllr Anthony Gladney. It called on the minister for climate, energy and the environment, Darragh O’Brien, to intervene over “unacceptable delays” with ESB connections for businesses and council projects, citing delays that are “delaying housing and community infrastructure.” 

The same meeting saw councillors approve a 30-year lease of the hub site to Carlow Regional Youth Services at a rent of €100 a year. The lease was proposed by cllr Fergal Browne and seconded by cllr Adrienne Wallace.

The facility is designed as a shared, universally accessible resource incorporating a community hall, kitchen, coffee dock, two multi-functional classrooms/meeting/training rooms, two consulting rooms, a lobby meeting space and office and storage accommodation, along with a lift for accessibility. The scheme also includes landscaping and outdoor play space.

At the time of the contract signing, cllr Fintan Phelan called the development “a gamechanger.”