THE chapel at Mount St Lawrence Cemetery is going to rack and ruin, Limerick City and County Council was told in a call to action to save the building.
Speaking at the May meeting of the Metropolitan District, Fine Gael councillor Sarah Kiely proposed the local authority find a funding source to restore the chapel.
“Since my election six years ago now, I have been campaigning in this chamber to have the chapel at Mount St Lawrence renovated and conserved. Despite this, not much has been done. I have been told time after time that applications have been made and works will begin, however, this isn’t the reality,” Cllr Kiely stated.
“We need to get real about this project, it is of serious concern to many of our citizens who again contacted me regarding it.
“We need our built heritage to be protected and maintained, as we are well aware the longer a building is left go unattended, unloved, and unused, the more costly and difficult it will be to bring it back to its glory,” she warned.
Cllr Kiely said she wants to see the chapel building turned into a civic or performance space, or “a place where we could put a military museum should we see fit”.
“All the ideas in the world have been presented over and over again, yet this beautiful chapel is going to rack and ruin. Please do something about it before it’s too late and not viable to save it,” she petitioned the local authority.
Social Democrats councillor Shane Hickey-O’Mara suggested the Council reaches out to the Catholic Church for financial help in restoring the chapel.
“They’re one of the wealthiest organisations in the world,” Cllr Hickey-O’Mara noted.
Cathaoirleach of the Metropolitan District, Cllr Kieran O’Hanlon (FF), was aghast at the notion.
“You’re serious about writing for funds? I think we’d have a better chance if I went down town and played the tin whistle and collected a few bob,” Cllr O’Hanlon replied.
Fianna Fáil councillor Catherine Slattery considered it “unacceptable” that the Council has left the chapel at Mount St Lawrence fall into disrepair.
“We’re being ignored. We need to be listened to. It’s an absolute disgrace that we’re being ignored,” she commented.
Senior Engineer for the Council’s Environment and Climate Action Directorate, Aidan Finn, said that while the local authority was not successful with a funding application to the Historic Structures Fund in 2025, the project will be put forward for HSE funding in 2026.
