TWO local Fine Gael councillors have accused Limerick City and County Council of flushing away taxpayers’ money over a €20million plan to construct a library, toilets, and additional car park spaces in Adare, ahead of the arrival of the Ryder Cup golf tournament, which takes place at the five-star Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort in 2027.
Cllrs Adam Teskey and Stephen Keary said the Council’s plans to remodel the Adare Heritage Centre dwarfed the government’s controversial spending of €335,000 on a bike shed at Leinster house, calling for the plans to be reassessed.
The two councillors said the Council’s original plan to partially demolish the centre and construct a library, toilets, and additional car park spaces cost between €8-10m, but they complained this was revised to €20m without proper consultation.
“Whatever about the Dail bike shed, this might be the most expensive library and toilets in the world,” Cllr Teskey argued, deeming it “complete gross negligence and an mis-expenditure of money of the highest order of taxpayers money on a library”.
The pair claimed councillors, local businesses, and the wider public were “mistreated, misled, and misguided” by the proposals and that “the plans should be re-evaluated and specific costs established.”
They also claimed the Council failed to adhere to its own planning policy by “not putting the planning file on public display in the local area office”.
Both councillors said they felt the revised plans were not in keeping with the “historic nature” of the tourist village’s thatched roof cottages and Abbey ruins.
They said they were not opposed to the re-modelling of the centre in principle, but argued they “could not support a project that has such a variation in proposed costs for tax payers money”.
Both councillors put forward submissions to the Council’s revised Part 8 application, but said “it was explained to us that we didn’t have any jurisdiction over the limitation of funds that could be spent on the project”.
They also complained that €2m of the proposed project spend is to be earmarked for consultancy work, saying “we cannot sit idly by and watch public funds be spent in this manner”.
Cllr Keary claimed the revised plans were being proposed “without any cost benefit analysis of taxpayers’ money”.
Responding, Limerick City and County Council said the development was “a strategic tourism and local amenity necessity and long-standing priority for the local authority, as the current facility is outdated, undersized, and incapable of meeting modern demands”.
The Council said it engaged extensively with the local community and the “enhanced design” represented a “state-of-the-art civic and community amenity, which includes a 500sqm community library, expanded exhibition and showcase spaces, optimised restroom facilities, and a redesigned car park increasing parking capacity by 25 per cent”.
It said it submitted a Part 8 application following a following public consultation, which “received strong community approval and was passed by the Adare Rathkeale Municipal Area’s elected members on December 10”.
In a separate response, the Council Director General Dr Pat Daly, acknowledged that “while it might have been better to also display the Part 8 application at the Council’s offices at Adare Rathkeale (this will be done going forward), the Council’s policy regarding display of Part 8 applications has been adhered to”.
Dr Daly added that an “advertised public display” of the plans was attended by approximately 47 members of the public, the digital version of the application was accessed more than 200 times, and an architectural assessment of the plans “considers that the design is sensitive to the site’s heritage setting”.
