MajorFacelift plannedfor Fitz william Square

September 2004

FITZWILLIAM Square, at the commercial heart of Wicklow town, is next in line for a major facelift.

However, the consultants have been warned they must learn from the mistakes they made with Market Square.

Despite Market Square winning a major national award in the tidy towns competition this week, councillors lambasted consultant architects, Burke Kennedy Doyle, with some describing the refurbished square as a chaotic disaster area.

Consultant, Noel Kennedy, told Monday’s meeting of Wicklow Town Council that they would bring in the lessons they learned from Market Square but pointed out that Market Square had ‘changed unimaginably’ since the work.

Fitzwilliam Square is dominated by a statue of Captain Halpin but Mr Kidney said it looked more like a grotto than a square, with forbidding railings and cluttered trees.

Cllr Ollie Lalor said that Market Square had been a ‘ thorn in the side’ of the people of Wicklow. Traffic was in jeopardy, with buses, cars and bollards in conflict.

‘Not one person has said that was a good job. That square was a disaster. I’d like to see what you will come up for the next one,’ said the councillor.