Council will ‘aggressively’ chase monies owed on building
IT had been hoped the sale of the building would bring an end to the long running saga over the hotel, which closed down overnight in 2007 with the loss of 30 jobs.
After that the building rapidly fell into disrepair and became a notorious eyesore.
In August 2011 a second fire at the abandoned hotel in the space of six-months caused extensive damage to the premises, prompting the then Mallow Town Council to again warn it’s then owner, Frank Mulcahy, the building would be listed as a derelict building unless it was repaired.
On August 23, 2011 the owner was served with a notice under the Dangerous Structures Act ordering its owner to undertake safety works on the building.
Having received no reply after the statutory six-week period the council initiated legal proceedings under the Local Government Sanitary Survives Act.
The council subsequently took legal proceedings against Mr Mulcahy under the Local Government Sanitary Services Act (1964) after he failed to reply to an order to undertake the necessary remedial works.
Mallow Town Council took matters into its own hands appointing a specialist company had been appointed to under safety works at the hotel. This included the installation of a mesh banner on its exterior façade, which is still in place.
At a court sitting in October 2012 the owners, listed as Stratfield Ltd, Frank Mulcahy, Formenton Ltd and Mulcahy Enterprises, were hit with a fine of €91,033.07plaus legal costs under the Dangerous Structures provision of the 1964 bill.
This total also included recouping cost of the remedial work undertaken by Mallow town Council.
Significantly, when the sale of the building was confirmed last June, a council spokesperson told The Corkman that any outstanding monies owed to the authority on the building had to be cleared before its sale could go through.
However, the municipal officer for the council’s Kanturk/Mallow district, Liz Donovan, told the Corkman that the cost of the works have yet to be recouped by the authority following the judgement.
“We are surprised that a payment has not been made to date as this would have been a legal requirement of the sale. We will be aggressively pursuing the monies that are owed on the property,” said Ms Donovan.
She would not be drawn on speculation that should the outstanding monies not be paid in full it may impact on the decision whether or not to give the application permission to go-ahead.
“I am not able to comment on that,” said Ms Donovan.
However, she did say that once any outstanding monies have been paid, the authority would welcome any remedial works on the building.
“In its current state the building is an eyesore, so any move to address this would be most welcome,” said Ms Donovan.