Negotiations ongoing with Dunnes for Ferrybank SC
Fianna Fáil Councillor Ger Frisby said “We need to keep as much pressure on them to get this resolved!”
The fate of Ferrybank Shopping Centre remains up in the air as local councillors hear that discussions with the owners are ongoing.
The owners of the shopping centre were revealed to be Dunnes Stores last year, following a long-running dispute between Dunnes Stores and the National Asset Management Agency.
A Piltown Municipal District Council meeting heard in early 2023 that the centre was owned by Better Value Unlimited, a company part of the Dunnes Stores group. Since its construction in 2008, the shopping centre, which is home to Kilkenny Library, and Kilkenny County Council Municipal offices, has never had a commercial tenant in its expansive space.
Locals hope that a tenant will be found for the space and the council heard that the Kilkenny County Council Senior Planner Dennis Malone was in active contact with the property section in Dunnes Stores
Fianna Fáil Councillor Ger Frisby said “We need to keep as much pressure on them to get this resolved!”
He said work was ongoing with Dunnes Stores to “get them to commit to something” and said he believes it is "important" that the council get a timeline. “That would be important to get a timeline, even if we had some timeline or an indication from [Dunnes Stores] that would be helpful.”
These discussions for part of "ongoing engagement" with the management of the shopping centre that Waterford News & Star revealed last month when the Senior Executive Officer for Kilkenny County Council Marie Phelan gave an update to Piltown council.
"We're still in regular correspondence with management at Ferrybank Shopping Centre through their property section, who are inputting into the development of the local area plan for Ferrybank and the joint retail strategy," she said.
"There is ongoing engagement there that will continue into the future."
