Munster Express Online

Michelle Clancy reports

Waterford Council has once again been called on to liaise with the owners of the former Jury’s (Ard Rí) Hotel in Ferrybank to ‘clean up the eyesore’.
Cllr Jason Murphy (FF) said there had been another fire at the premises recently, while anti-social behaviour was an ongoing issue on the site
At the April Metropolitan District meeting, he requested that the Council investigate what it can do to address the “enormous eyesore” at the entrance to the city. “We need to put pressure on the owners, this is going on long enough,” he added.
Responding to a query from Cllr Cha O’Neill (Ind) whether the developer had paid back money lent by the Council a couple of years ago, Paul Kelly (Planning) said they had not. The Council had spent its own resources screening the building off, he added.
Meanwhile, Cllr Mary Roche (Ind) sought an overview of the demolition on the North Quays and also a plan as to how the site will be developed in the future.
She said there’s been a “whole lot of promises made in terms of funding” and she wanted to see what was actually going to happen next.
Cllr Sean Reinhardt (Ind) reiterated his previous request that the Council examine the possibility of diverting cars exiting Plunkett Train Station through the car park in the station and onto the quayside. He described the current situation, where cars leaving the station are trying to merge onto the busy roundabout outside, as “lethal” and an “accident waiting to happen”.
“It would be far safer for the cars to instead pass through the car park under the New Ross Road and then exit onto the quayside,” he commented.
Senior Roads Engineer Paul McCarthy noted that access to the train station would be considered under the proposed North Quays development and promised to examine Cllr Reinhardt’s proposal.

The former Jury's (Ard Rí) Hotel: a long-standing blight on the city landscape.