Big Plans For Kilmainham Courthouse
The Kilmainham Courthouse, located on Inchicore Road as become part of the Kilmainham Gaol in a redevelopment that is sure to increase tourist footfall to the area. As a Courthouse it was active from the period 1820 to 2008. In July 2008, it closed its doors and the work was transferred to other city centre locations and Blanchardstown. Kilmainham was handed over to the Office of Public Works officially in 2013 in a ceremony that saw the keys of the old courthouse given to Brian Hayes, the then Minister of State, by Chief Justice of Ireland, Mrs Susan Denham.
The Government has decided to give a grant of €5 million towards the project at Kilmainham as part of the 7 “Permanent Reminders” projects of the 2016 Commemorations Programme. On June 11th, 2015, a contract for the provision of a new visitor facility at Kilmainham Courthouse was signed by Simon Harris, Minister of State, with Mr Liam Bennet, Senior Director of P J Hegarty and Sons with Minister Humphreys in attendance.
When signing the contract at Kilmainham courthouse the Minister said: “I am delighted to be signing this contract today with P J Hegarty and Sons for the new visitor facilities at Kilmainham. I am particularly happy that the contract has been won by a local firm, based nearby at Davitt Road in Inchicore, and I would hope that many local people will be able to benefit from the investment the Government is providing in the area through this project.”
Minister Humphreys said: “I am delighted that such good progress is being made on the redevelopment of this iconic building, which is one of the major capital projects being progressed as part of the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme. The Kilmainham site is so closely associated with the Rising, as the location where the 1916 Leaders were executed. Once they are completed next year, the new facilities here at Kilmainham will enhance what is already one of Dublin’s favourite tourist locations. I would like to commend Minister Harris and the OPW team for their work on this exciting project.”
Kilmainham was awarded No. 1 for the 2015 Travellers Choice Awards for Landmarks. Minister Harris welcomed this major achievement and said: “This shows the huge popularity and the success of the Kilmainham Gaol site among visitors all over the world. I am delighted to see that despite the fact that Kilmainham is such a busy place and the difficulties that are sometimes caused by the limited nature of the buildings have not impacted on the popularity of the site. Clearly, visitors the world over have realised that Kilmainham is a very happy that when the new development in the courthouse is in place, we will be able to guarantee and even experience for visitors to the site.”
In 2014, it was decided to put planning permission forward for the development of the Courthouse into a museum. The Kilmainham Gaol and Courthouse will be linked together to become one for guided tours, creating more space for visitors. Work has started on the courthouse already and the project will be completed for next year’s Centenary of the Easter Rising. It will aim to provide modern facilities for the nearly 335,000 visitors that visit the Kilmainham site yearly.
Once the project is completed, a wreath-laying event will take place on the 27th March 2016 to commence the 1916 Commemorations. Currently work is being done on the roof of the building. It is also going through some major changes to turn the interior into an exhibition centre, with a café and toilets. The building will also contain new ticket office and reception area and as well as the new Courthouse museum. The museum is bound to have some interesting artefacts on display about the justice (or lack thereof) system of the 19th century. Some pieces already planned for exhibition include an original stone crown that hung on the wall behind the Judges chair, it dates back to the 1883 from The Invincibles trial and a lower half of the 1916 Proclamation of the Republic.
We hope to find out more about this exciting development in the future, particularly, what new pieces will be held in the museum, so watch this space!
