Council plans to refurb old sexton’s house in the Liberties for community use

Last Friday, around lunchtime, Andrew McNeile stood in the aisle inside St Catherine's Church on Thomas Street, reeling off facts about its history as a place of Christian worship dating back to the 12th century.

He remembers how he went to Dublin City Council in the 1990s, when the church was lying vacant and derelict, and asked them for a lease of it, for a peppercorn rent.

Which they gave him and the congregation, along with some cash to help fix it up – to which they added about €500,000 they raised for this purpose, he says.

The church is now warm and bright with heated floors and big windows on either side of the hall, says McNeile, proudly.

It’s comfortable too, with rows of padded chairs, rather than hard wooden pews, says McNeile, the chair of the church’s board of trustees.

Now that process of bringing the church complex back into use is continuing.

The council looks set to move forward with plans to refurbish the derelict, boarded-up sexton's house tacked onto the outside of the church on the Thomas Court side, "for use as a community-based project".

A church sexton is like a custodian, handling maintenance issues.

The council’s plans for 37 Thomas Court were included in a response to a query from Fine Gael Councillor Danny Byrne, at last week’s monthly council meeting.

Byrne, of Fine Gael, had asked the council for a complete list of properties owned by the council that are on the derelict sites register – along with an explanation and plan for each one.

Andrew McNeile in St Catherine's Church on Thomas Street. Photo by Sam Tranum.

McNeile says that after the council fixes up the old house, the church is going to get control of it, and has some plans for it – for a kids' project, and for music classes for local mams – but is also looking around for groups in the area that need space, which might want to use the building too.

This is very welcome, local representatives say, as there’s a real shortage of community spaces in the Liberties, and has been for some time.

Spaces needed

Dublin City Council had added the building at 37 Thomas Court to the derelict sites register in February 2016, and it was vested to the council in March 2020.

A council report in December said that “Due to procurement issues, we did not make progress on a proposed refurbishment of 37 Thomas Court (a protected structure) in 2024.”

“However, it is hoped to advance this project in the coming year,” it said.

The Liberties is still very short on community spaces, said Green Party Councillor Michael Pidgeon on Thursday.

While things are improving gradually in other parts of the city, there remains a major dearth there, he said.

Around Kilmainham and Inchicore, for example, Pidgeon says there will be more meeting rooms and spaces relatively soon. “Once the new library is built, once we get the old Inchicore library building put to a purpose. Kilmainham Mill, maybe.”

Spaces are starting to come through in some parts, he says, but there is a strong, acute need in the Liberties still.

Sinn Féin Councillor Ciarán Ó Meachair agrees.

The Donore Avenue community centre burned down four years ago, he says, and the rebuild is still tied up in delays. “The community are suffering as a result.”

The Liberties could do with another dedicated community centre, as well as Donore Avenue, to address needs, Ó Meachair said on Thursday.

While there are many worthy groups in the area that could benefit from the space near St Catherine’s Church, Ó Meachair says he would love to see more youth clubs given decent, affordable facilities.

Many of these groups are forced to pay rents for privately owned properties, and are effectively paying city-centre rates – under their own tight budgets, he says.

“They're competing with the property market, so I would certainly say to look after them,” he says.

There is an apparent lack of an intentional plan when it comes to community spaces around the Liberties, says Amy Carey, CEO of the Solas Project, the local youth outreach organisation.

There is huge investment set to flow into the area by way of the Pear Tree Crossing development, she says, spearheaded by the Land Development Agency.

That’ll be a development with 550 homes, on what’s now the Digital Hub campus, on the south and north sides of Thomas Street.

“But it would be good to have some joined-up thinking about the investment in community spaces in the area,” she said.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.