Ireland’s Top 10 Most-at-Risk Buildings

28th January 2019
Press Release

An Taisce, a charity that works to preserve and protect Ireland’s natural and built heritage, has announced for the first time the country’s Top 10 Most-at-Risk Buildings.

These are all buildings of national importance, buildings that lie vacant and are in such a state of disrepair that they may be dangerous or have no identifiable new use. These buildings could be lost to future generations unless direct action is taken soon to preserve them. Given the critical homeless situation in the country, some of these heritage buildings could be restored to provide affordable housing for families and individuals.

This ‘Top 10 at risk’ list will henceforth be compiled and updated by An Taisce annually.

In alphabetical order, then, here are the ten buildings in 2019 that are most at risk:

  • Atkins Hall, Cork
  • Carrickglass Demesne, Carrigglass, Co. Longford
  • Carstown House, Carstown, Co. Louth
  • Cassidy’s Distillery, Monasterevin, Co. Kildare
  • Castle Saunderson, Co. Cavan
  • Castlehyde Church, Castlehyde, Co. Cork
  • Charleville Castle, Tullamore, Co. Offaly
  • Claremount, Claremorris, Co. Mayo
  • Iveagh Markets, Dublin 8
  • Sacred Heart Secondary School, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary

See pdf at the bottom of this press release ( an_taisce_top_10_most-at-risk_buildings_2019.pdf) or http://www.antaisce.org/issues/buildings-at-risk for more details on the buildings listed.

Send details of a building you believe to be ‘at risk’ in your area An Taisce – Phone 01 454 1786, Email info@antaisce.org, Twitter: @AnTaisce


ENDS

For further information, contact:
Ian Lumley, Advocacy Officer, An Taisce: +353 1 454 1786
Charles Stanley-Smith, Communications, An Taisce. Tel: +353 87 241 1995
email: publicaffairs@antaisce.org
An Taisce The National Trust for Ireland

Notes:
The Buildings-at-Risk Register was put in place in response to the growing number of structures that are vacant and are falling into a state of disrepair.

The assessment of risk is directly associated with the condition of the structure and not the external processes affecting it. The Register does not include national monuments, as set out in the National Monuments Acts, 1930 to 2004. The Register is correlated with the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, if you would like to know more detail on the architectural merits of a certain building.

What makes a structure an ‘at-risk’ building? For a structure to be at risk, it should meet one or several of the following criteria:

  • Vacant with no identified new use
  • Suffering from neglect and/or poor maintenance
  • Suffering from structural problems
  • Fire damaged
  • Open to the elements
  • Threatened with demolition
  • Abandoned ruin

About An Taisce

An Taisce is a charity that works to preserve and protect Ireland’s natural and built heritage. We are an independent charitable voice for the environment and for heritage issues. We are not a government body, semi-state or agency. Founded in 1948, we are one of Ireland’s oldest and largest environmental organisations.