Council agree to purchase Enfield hall for use as community space

Efforts to get the former St Patrick's Hall in Enfield refurbished to provide a multi-function community space to serve the town's growing population appear to be back on track with confirmation that Meath Co Council has been approved to purchase the hall from Enfield Development Group with the money to be reinvested towards finishing the project.

The first phase of the refurbishment of the former parish hall was carried out in 2021, but the bulk of the works were in the second phase and while the project was successful in obtaining a €250,000 grant, the project did not proceed as the tenders came back far in excess of the funding available.

Last week, Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys announced the successful projects in this year's Buildings Acquisition Measure under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme with two Meath projects included- one being the hall in Enfield.

In an update on their efforts to re-open St Patrick's Hall, Enfield Development Group shared the news on its Facebook page last week.

The group wrote: “While the last few years with price inflation have proved challenging, we have what we feel is some very positive news we would like to now share. “Despite a previous grant award of €250,000, EDG were unable to progress the hall refurbishment last year, as the tenders came back two-three times above the grant amount, due to construction inflation.”

EDG outlined that it has worked with Meath Co Council to try to find a solution and that representatives from EDG and the Council met with Minister Heather Humphreys last May to make the case for prioritising the refurbishment.

“The minister was very supportive and her department worked with Meath County Council to implement the plan via the established funding systems. “We were therefore delighted with the announcement that as part of the derelict buildings grant, Meath Co Council was successful in their application for funding to buy the hall from EDG.

“Meath Co Council (in conjunction with EDG) also, in November, applied for a large refurbishment grant through the Town and Village Renewal Scheme to cover the balance of the envisaged cost of fully refurbishing the hall. EDG will fund the rest from the hall sale proceeds. We are still awaiting the outcome of that grant application but expect to hear within the next few months.”

The next step will involve retendering for the remaining works needed on the hall to get it open and the group said it is “hugely excited and hopeful” that all the hard efforts of local volunteers supported by the community, will hopefully soon pay off.