Work on tower at Blackrock to be done by the end of the year

Date Published: {J}

BY FRANK FARRAGHER

Essential maintenance work on the Blackrock tower should be completed before the end of this year with the procurement process already in train, the City Council said this week.

A certain amount of fraying, or ‘wear and tear’, on parts of the concrete structure of the tower has prompted the City Council to have remedial work carried out on the Salthill landmark.

Prior to this year’s Summer season, the tower was cleaned up and painted after complaints from locals and councillors that the tower had turned into an eyesore at the tourist resort.

However this was regarded as a ‘cosmetic exercise’ and now, according to the City Council, they are progressing with the procurement stage of a more thorough ‘repair and maintenance’ project.

An estimated €100,000 has been allocated for the repair to the structure, with work expected to be ‘somewhat similar’ to the maintenance work carried out on Wolfe Tone Bridge last year.

A City Council spokesman said that the procurement process – involving the specifications for the work to be carried out – was currently under way, to be followed by the tender applications.

“We would expect at this stage that the works would be completed by the end of this year. This is essential maintenance work needed to repair the damage caused to this exposed structure by weather and the sea,” said a spokesman for the City Council.

The work is likely to involved the cleaning-off of any decaying material on the tower and its base followed by the filling-in or ‘pointing’ of the resultant gaps. Such work is normally carried out by specialist companies.

The tower drew international attention early last year when it featured on a Terry Wogan BBC TV documentary about Ireland entitled, Terry Wogan’s Ireland.

Shortly after its broadcast, local councillor Padraig Conneely said that he, and many locals, were appalled at the ‘eyesore’ state of the tower as seen by millions of viewers across Britain and Ireland.