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Cllr. Ormond Disappointed at Announcement of Birr Court House.

Cllr. Peter Ormond has expressed his disappointment that the Court House in Birr is to close. This is another blow to the town of

Birr and the surrounding areas. Last year, we witnessed the closure of Roscrea Court House and now with the imminent closure of Birr, there will be no court houses between Nenagh and Tullamore. If people of South Offaly need to avail of our Court Services, they will have to travel to Nenagh or Tullamore. 

We are regularly seeing these announcements right across the board in different sectors where we are seeing the reduction and merging of services. We have yet to hear what the total cost of these savings are. The closure of the Court house in Birr will result in officials and members of the Gardai travelling further to the new courts. 

This announcement will greatly effect the businesses in the town . During Court Sittings, there was a financial spin off in terms of restaurants, hotels, accommodation providers and retail. When the government were looking at these savings, the financial loss to the the town wasn't taken into consideration.

I am calling on the government parties to inject some capital funding into Birr and the surrounding areas. We have recently seen the closure of Shannon Development in the town, the tourist office is due to close at the beginning of August with no definite plans going forward, the Town  Council is to finish next June. These are all vital services that are important to a town like Birr and they're closing at an alarming rate.