Councillor calls for emergency meeting over Mayo hotel sale 'disaster'

An elected member of Castlebar Municipal District has called for an emergency meeting of the authority following the collapse of the sale of the Imperial Hotel in Castlebar.

Councillor Michael Kilcoyne said the news of the investors pulling out of purchasing the property, after a formal agreement was reached by the council to sell it last December, is "a disaster for the county town."

The independent representative, who had opposed disposing of the building to private interests, said the setback has further delayed the renovation of a site which has fallen into dereliction during the ownership of the council, which acquired it in 2011 for €800,000.

When the debate opened to dispose of the former hotel, Councillor Kilcoyne had expressed a preference for the hotel to be retained in council ownership and developed in line with plans submitted to the Department of Local Government a number of years ago for the regeneration of the town's 'historic core', an initiative which included the Imperial Hotel, the Mall, Rock Square, backlands at Ellison Street, the old Post Office and works at the Military Barracks, for which funding of €2.5 million was specifically directed.

Government funding of €11 million was allocated for these works prior to the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020 and since then only works on converting the old Post Office building at Mountain View into a community youth resource centre have commenced to date.

The original plan for the Imperial Hotel, under the urban urban regeneration and development fund (URDF) project, was to convert it into an Innovation Hub.

He told The Connaught Telegraph: "This latest development raises a lot of questions and am I calling for an emergency meeting to give me an opportunity to raise them in a formal manner.

"The money was there in 2011 to invest in the Imperial Hotel and now, five years on, it has not progressed one iota - and the decision to sell it, a move supported jointly by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, has proven to be misguided.

"I am extremely disappointed over this matter as it's a massive blow to Castlebar's morale."

Councillor Harry Barrett said he is also dismayed by the situation.

"I agree that this matter requires a special meeting and I believe the Imperial Hotel should now be converted into the civic offices of Castlebar Municipal District, giving the county town the prestige it deserves."

He has already written to the council executive stating the Castlebar Municipal District is at crisis level in terms of low staffing - "and the successful delivery of URDF project will require additional staffing."

Councillor Barrett wants to know how many additional staff will be allocated and when these staff will be assigned to the district to complete these projects.