Conventbuilding shouldhavebeen boughtforArklow

May 1998

Deep concern was expressed this week by a local councillor that the Convent of Mercy building in Arklow is about to be lost to the people of the town.

Cllr Nancy Quinn said that Wicklow County Council and Arklow Urban Council, working with the County Enterprise Board, shouldhave seen the wisdom of investing in the purchase of the convent for the town.

She pointed out that there is a crying need in Arklow for a concert hall and an arts centre, a school of English for foreign students and a proper building to house a library.

All these facilities, Cllr Quinn said, could have been contained in the convent together with offices for semi-state bodies.

Cllr Quinn was speaking out after last week’s revelation that McGettigan Ltd, the owners of hotels in Bray and Dublin, are applying to Arklow Urban Council for permission to convert the Convent of Mercy into 16 self-contained apartments.

‘I feel saddened, as I am sure everybody in Arklow is, that this beautiful building so deeply embedded in the historical, social and cultural roots of the town, will be lost to the people,’ Cllr Quinn declared.

She expressed the hope that event at this late stage, maybe some of the convent could be kept for the town and its people.