Enfield parish hall project back on track with €500k boost

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The hall was painted in 2021 and new windows installed, which have remained boarded up for insurance reasons.

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An artist’s impression of how the hall will look when complete. Noelle Finegan

Noelle Finegan

Published: Thu 9 May 2024, 3:20 PM

Plans for the refurbishment of the former parish hall in Enfield into a multi-purpose community centre are back on track with funding of €500,000 announced towards the project last week.

Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys approved 81 projects nationwide to receive funding under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme 2024 last week with four Meath projects to benefit including Enfield.

While the first phase of works to the former St Patrick's Hall to replace windows and paint the building went ahead, the tenders for the second main phase to include major mechanical and electrical upgrades came back far in excess of the funding available and the project stalled as Enfield Development Group and Meath Co Council worked together to find with a solution.

This involved Meath Co Council purchasing the hall from Enfield Development Group with the proceeds of the sale being reinvested in the refurbishment, together with a new application for more funding under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme.

The €500,000 announced last week should bring the long-awaited project to completion. The next stage will be the issuing of a new tender which should happen in the coming weeks and once the tender process is completed, a timeframe on when the works will commence and when the new community facility will be operational will become clearer.

Angela Smith of Enfield Development Group said they are "delighted" with this funding award from the Department of Rural and Community Development.

"Since EDG formed back in 2016, our main objective has always been to secure community facilities and amenities for Enfield. Although we had secured funding for the hall two years ago, the huge jump in construction inflation meant that the funds were no longer sufficient to complete the refurbishment.

"We are extremely grateful to Meath Co Council, who worked with us to find a solution, and who fully supported our application for this increased funding. We are confident that we finally have enough funds to complete the refurbishment and create a much needed, multi functional community facility for the town. Our wonderful architect, Patrick Gilsenan of PG Architects, is now finalising the tender documentation, and we expect to go to tender in the coming weeks."

Angela said it had taken a huge amount of work from the EDG committee, both past and present, to get to this point.

"We have always been very fortunate to have benefited from the guidance and support of our local Trim MD councillors and the Meath West TDs, particularly Damien English, who was instrumental in securing a meeting with Minister Heather Humphreys, where reps from EDG and Meath Co Council could directly make the case for funding for the Hall. We thank them all for their help.

"Finally, we would like to thank our fantastic local community and local businesses for their ongoing support. Without them none of this would be possible. Now, with this funding award, we have taken a giant step closer to being able to welcome them all to a newly refurbished Enfield Community Hall in the not too distant future."