Longford councillors divided on the problem of Providers

Councillor Gerry Hagan has called for the demolition of the Providers Building in Longford Town.

“I call on Longford County Council to consider the demolition of all or part of the provider's building to facilitate road widening works coupled with pedestrian amenities along with the provision of a town centre focal point. This will tie in with the overall

Longford Connected Plan,” stated Cllr Hagan at last week's meeting.

According to the councillor, the area posed a danger to pedestrians, those with disabilities and motorists.

The motion split the chamber, with Cllr Séamus Butler responded first.

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“I think that this is an outrageous proposal,” he replied.

“We had a buyer looking to use it as both commercial and residential.

“And we would wash our face and we would lose money on it?

“Are you seriously suggesting that we just bury all the money and then add to it by the cost of demolition and reconstruction, for a small garden on the corner?

“There are no traffic problems on Richmond Street.”

The building was purchased in 2017 and had the possibility of being sold to a private buyer in 2024. This sale never came to fruition.

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Cllr Hagan hopes to develop a third filter lane on the street to assist with the flow of traffic.

“There are no traffic problems, there is no difficulty in turning right and left there,” argued Cllr Butler.

“I couldn’t disagree more, we need a buyer for that building. It was in its day an iconic building in Longford it is a disgrace that it’s been empty so long.”

Cllr Uruemu Adejinmi then spoke saying, “To say I’m gobsmacked is an understatement.”

“We had an opportunity for the council not only to get paid to dispose of the building but also to get future funding.

“We not only rejected it but now there’s a proposal for demolition which will have significant cost implications for the County Council.

“Not to mention the fact that we’re struggling with rubbish in open spaces around the town and around the county and we’re trying to find lasting solutions.

“Then there's a proposal to create more open spaces that will be attractive to people that carry out rubbish dumping indiscriminately.”

The building has belonged to the Longford County Council for eight years, during this time many plans have been made for the building that once housed Providers.

There have been plans during this time to establish an innovation hub and county museum.

The Taoiseach at the time was brought down to view the building.

The building had a great opportunity in 2022 when a private housing developer put an offer on the building.

The development was to see the top floor separated into four apartments with assisted living set to suit the needs of people with serious medical issues.

On the bottom floor, there was to be a space reserved for retailers and a co-working space that would be taken over by the Longford County Council.

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Cllr Gerry Hagan outlined that, “A property development company was purchasing the providers building and in turn leasing it to a housing association who were going to provide flats for people with mental illness.
“But it was unassisted, not assisted.

“I was told emphatically that it was not going to be assisted living, that there was going to be a pone number on the wall and the clients could ring when they got into difficulty,” explained Cllr Hagan, who said he believed that these flats would include care staff.

When asked why the flats weren't continued from a social housing stand point he said, “There were four flats proposed, to me it's not the right fit for the centre of our town. I support social housing but this particular building wouldn't be suitable for that in the centre of our town, or the administrative capital of our county.”

He touched on the plans for the lower level of the building. In regards to the ratail space he highlighted that there is already plenty of unused retail space in Longford.

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In regards to the co-working area it seems that the number of desks that would be available wasn't suitable either.

“There was one section ont the ground floor that they were going to provide to staff. Initially it was seven hotdesks but then it shrunk to five hot desks.”

Other councillors stood behind Cllr Hagan’s motion.

Cllr Peggy Nolan said, “When Providers came up for sale I was so excited with the plans that were there, we would have had a major key holder who was taking over the full upstairs of the building.

“Ministers were paraded down, the Taoiseach was paraded down to see the building and he was told about the wonderful plans and the wonderful person that was taking over the building.”

Cllr Nolan referred to the division the building has caused within the chamber but then continued saying “That side of the house has been very coy because that was all presented to us on a lie. It was never going to happen.”