Wicklow Sinn Féin TD John Brady has delivered a scathing assessment of the Government’s handling of Wicklow District Courthouse, describing the latest announcement as “the final chapter in 17 years of failure, delay, and wasted public money.”
Deputy Brady said that while Tánaiste Simon Harris has sought to present the decision as progress and a victory, the reality is that it represents the collapse of a project his own party oversaw for nearly two decades.
“It is extraordinary to see Simon Harris heaping praise on himself and his government for this decision,” Brady said.
“This is the same Government, and the same political system, that allowed Wicklow District Courthouse to sit vacant and fall into dereliction for the past 17 years. If they want to congratulate themselves, they can, but they are congratulating themselves for failure.”
“For years, the people of Wicklow were promised refurbishment and reopening. Instead, what they got was delay after delay, with hundreds of thousands of euros spent maintaining a building that was left to rot.”
Deputy Brady pointed to the removal of the courthouse project from the revised National Development Plan as the clearest indication that the Government had already abandoned the building long before this week’s confirmation.
“The writing was on the wall when this project was quietly dropped from the National Development Plan earlier this year. This latest announcement simply confirms what many already knew, the Government had no intention of delivering this project.”
He said the scale of wasted public money over nearly two decades was staggering.
“Hundreds of thousands of euros have been pumped into this building simply to keep it sitting vacant over the last 17 years, from security, to heating, to electricity, right through to the most recent €250,000 spent repairing the roof of a building that there was no plan for.”
“This is an outrageous waste of taxpayers’ money. The public has effectively been paying to maintain a derelict building with no clear future because of Government indecision and inaction.”
Deputy Brady said responsibility now lies squarely with the Government to act decisively.
“They have presided over 17 years of neglect. It is now incumbent on Simon Harris and his colleagues in Government to ensure that this failure is not compounded.”
“I have consistently said that if the building was no longer required by the Courts Service, it must be repurposed for community use. That must now happen without any further delay.”
“The transfer of the building to Wicklow County Council must be expedited, but crucially, it must come with ring-fenced Government funding to ensure it can be properly redeveloped.”
“The people of Wicklow will not accept another decade of excuses. This building has been left idle for long enough, it is time for delivery, not spin.” Ends