Planning « Thurles Information

Thurles Blisters Burst After Just 6 Weeks.

Blister tactile paving, installed in early September of this year; same, as part of the long awaited and current upgrading at the junction at Irerrin Road and Kickham Street in Thurles, are already disintegrating.

**New blister style tactile paving & kerbing shows signs of physical breakdown just 6 weeks after installation**.

This paving is designed especially for visually impaired pedestrians (and those with the more modern affliction of staring intently at their mobile phone screens, surfing Google), while out walking.

Seriously, same should indicate controlled and uncontrolled street crossings, thus warning pedestrians that the pavement is about to end and the road begins.

The paving on this junction indicates an uncontrolled crossing and is earth buff (light earth brown) in colour, same designed colour to provide an additional visual cue for those with low vision.

Sadly, as in this case, engineers in their design, failed to understand that same are not suitable for busy street corners or for parking areas where 18 wheeler trucks halt, forced to park on a narrow street in an effort to off-load their merchandise.

Ah, sure it’s only another €1,000 or so of taxpayers money to spend to correct; a small price to pay for engineering stupidity.

Thurles Planning Alert From Tipperary County Council.

Application Ref: 2560982.
Applicant: Liam Judge.
Development Address: No. 2 Windsor Grove, Mill Road, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
Development Description: to construct 2 number semi detached bungalows, entrances, together with all associated site works
Status: N/A
Application Received: 02/10/2025
Decision Date: N/A
Further Details: http://www.eplanning.ie/TipperaryCC/AppFileRefDetails/2560982/0

Application Ref: 2560656.
Applicant: Coffitz Limited.
Development Address: Thomond Road, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
Development Description: Change of use of existing ground floor area from retail/commercial use to veterinary clinic, with all associated siteworks.
Status: Conditional.
Application Received: 09/07/2025.
Decision Date: 01/10/2025.
Further Details: http://www.eplanning.ie/TipperaryCC/AppFileRefDetails/2560656/0

Proprietors Of A Thurles Home Refusing To Accept Another Winter Of Council Inaction.

For the second consecutive year, the proprietors of a house on the Dublin Road, east of Thurles, is being relentlessly flooded, and they are refusing to accept another winter of inaction.
The cause is not a natural calamity, but a man-made one: a raised, sloped footpath, installed by Tipperary County Council, now channels rainwater directly into their home.

**Photograph of internal damage and rising damp caused by water ingress**.
*Pic: G. Willoughby*.

Despite repeated calls to Thurles Municipal District Council staff, and despite entreaties to local elected councillors, not one single corrective step has been taken in the past two years.
After the heavy rain early this morning, we filmed video evidence-plain and unmistakable-that identifies water streaming down the garden path to flow under the front door, thus saturating the front hallway and creating rising damp, which today is visible, creeping mercilessly upward on the interior walls.

Outside, the tarmac footpath, which the council built, same is already sinking, forming a dangerous slope unto the property, turning the approach to the house into a funnel for floodwater.

We have this evening sent copies of the video and images to Ms. Sharon Scully (Thurles Municipal District Administrator) and Ms. Sinead Carr (CE, Tipperary County Council), asking that they immediately contact the elderly occupants, whom we have named in our correspondence.
The proprietors are terrified that a night of heavy rain will see their furniture floating, their home destroyed, and their security swept away.
The proprietors are now seeking immediate and urgent remedial action and full restitution for the damage caused by the councils inaction.

Next Week – 96 Additional Beds Will Become Available At UHL.

University Hospital Limerick (UHL) is set to open 96 additional beds in the coming days, in what health officials say marks the first step in a long-term plan to ease chronic overcrowding at the Mid West Region’s main hospital.

The €96 million development, which has been under construction over the past three years, will deliver 96 single en-suite rooms, all of which are new bed stock. It is understood the unit will be fully staffed once it becomes operational next week.

This is the first of three 96-bed blocks planned for the UHL campus, with the second expected to open in 2027 and the third in the 2030s.

UHL has consistently been ranked the country’s most overcrowded hospital. This morning, figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) recorded 86 patients waiting on trolleys across the hospital’s emergency department and wards, while on the previous day, the figure stood at 118.

The hospital has come under repeated scrutiny from the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), which has found UHL to be understaffed and posing significant risks to patient safety. Inspections reported that patient dignity and privacy were routinely compromised in the overcrowded emergency department.

Public concern over safety at UHL intensified following the death of 16-year-old Ms Aoife Johnston in December 2022. An independent review by former Chief Justice Frank Clarke concluded her death was “almost certainly avoidable” after she waited 13.5 hours for life-saving medication. The report warned that without urgent action to address staffing and capacity, further avoidable deaths would remain an “inevitable” risk.

The emergency department at UHL is the only 24-hour facility serving the Mid West region-covering North Tipperary, Limerick, Clare, and parts of Cork and Kerry – since a controversial reconfiguration of services by Fianna Fáil government, back in 2009.
Campaign groups, including families bereaved at the hospital, continue to call for additional emergency departments to be established in the region.

Thurles Planning Alert From Tipperary County Council.

Application Ref: 2560917.
Applicant: Tomas Ryan.
Development Address: Tipperary Equestrian Centre , Monakeeba Mill Road , Thurles.
Development Description: the extension of existing sand arena together with all associated site works.
Status: N/A.
Application Received: 17/09/2025.
Decision Date: N/A.
Further Details: http://www.eplanning.ie/TipperaryCC/AppFileRefDetails/2560917/0.

Application Ref: 2560741.
Applicant: Michael Ryan & Ann-Marie Dwan.
Development Address: Bohernamona, Thurles , Co. Tipperary.
Development Description: The demolition of 3 sqm utility room to rear of existing cottage and construction of a new 95 sqm single storey extension to rear and associated internal alterations and fabric upgrade to existing single storey cottage, relocation of existing site entrance.
Status: Conditional.
Application Received: 29/07/2025.
Decision Date: 19/09/2025.
Further Details: http://www.eplanning.ie/TipperaryCC/AppFileRefDetails/2560741/0.

Application Ref: 25147
Applicant: Martin and Eileen Troy
Development Address: 10 Windsor Grove , Thurles , Co. Tipperary
Development Description: (a) construction of a new enclosed front door porch, (b) conversion of existing garage to living accommodation, (c) construction of a new sunroom to the rear of the dwelling, (d) alterations and variations to the existing elevations, (e) relocation of the exit.
Status: Conditional
Application Received: 28/07/2025
Decision Date: 17/09/2025
Further Details: http://www.eplanning.ie/TipperaryCC/AppFileRefDetails/25147/0