The town councils of Tullamore, Birr and that of Edenderry were abolished ten years ago in what some consider was a mistake and a hasty reaction to the calls for pruning in that recessionary period. Here we provides some headlines for significan events since the first council body – the Tullamore Town Commission – was established in 1860. This was followed by the urban council in 1900. We post this blog on the anniversary of the great balloon fire of 10 May 1785.
The background years, 1860-1963
1860 Town Commissioners elected for Tullamore under the Towns Improvement Act of 1854.
1891 The population of Tullamore town falls to 4,676 or 13.8 percent down on the 1881 figure (based on the current Tullamore Town Council boundaries).
1895 Piped water (from Clonaslee) made available in Tullamore at a cost of £10,000.
1897 Tullamore commercial and farming interests agree to hold the Tullamore fair on the third Friday of each month so as to facilitate exporters. Street livestock fairs only finish in the 1960s with move to cattlemarkets about 1958.
1897 Offaly Independent and Rev. Fr. Murphy, a Tullamore curate, commence a crusade for the better housing of the working classes.
1900 Tullamore U.D.C. established under the 1898 Local Government (Ireland) Act and also the new county council. ‘For the first time in history of our country, the management of the local business of each county rests with the people. The days of jobbery are over. Thank God.’
1901 Tullamore has 95 one-room tenements of which 66 contain two or more persons.
1901 First increase in population of Tullamore town for over half a century but does not
exceed 5,000 again until 1936.
1903 Tullamore U.D.C. completes its first scheme of twelve houses at Emmet Terrace.
1905 New street names adopted by Tullamore U.D.C. at the suggestion of the Gaelic League more in keeping with Irish culture and traditions – saints and battles ‘we won’.
1916 Tullamore U.D.C. passes a resolution condemning the 1916 rebellion.
1920 The name King’s County changed to Offaly by the county council.
1921 Electricity becomes widely available in Tullamore for street lighting and those who can afford to have a connection.
1921 Offaly County Infirmary, Church Street, closed. Patients transferred to hospital attached to ‘County Home’ (the former workhouse at Ardan Road).
1921 Offaly public bodies unite in favour of accepting the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
1925 County Library scheme established in Offaly with headquarters at Tullamore.
Some reluctance from bishops over concerns about unsuitable literature etc.
1926 Tullamore ranks as an ‘overcrowded’ town with 33 percent of its inhabitants in overcrowded dwellings, 10 percent of the population live in one-room tenements.
1938 Two hundred and two houses erected by Tullamore U.D.C. since 1932 under de Valera’s slum clearance programme. Over 350 erected since 1903.
1938 Bridge at Bridge Street widened with the removal of Dann’s tea rooms.
1938 Outdoor swimming pool opened at Cloncollog, Tullamore – one of the first civic swimming pools in the country. On the same day the minister for local government, Sean T. O’Kelly opens the new housing scheme at O’Molloy Street.
1942 New Offaly County Hospital completed
1946 Only 19.3 percent of permanent housing units in Tullamore have a fixed bath or shower.
1951 Tullamore town plan prepared by Frank Gibney, town planning architect for
U.D.C.
The years from 1963 to the abolition in 2014
1967 First town development plan adopted by U.D.C. in accordance with the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act 1963.
1971 Population of Tullamore town and environs 7,474 persons or 26.6 percent up on 1926 figure. The population of the urban district is 6,809. Population of county: 51,829.
1971 Sixty-eight percent of Tullamore’s permanent housing units have a fixed bath or
shower.
1973 Tullamore ranks as nineteenth largest town in the Republic of a group of c. 100.
1979 Population in Tullamore urban district reaches 7,824 or 14.9 percent up on the 1971 urban district figure at 6,809.
1981 Some of the older houses in Kilbride Street are to be demolished by the town council.
1982 New canal bridge completed at Srah as part of new western by-pass
1983 The fifth and final phase of 58 houses brings the total to 282 at Ardan View is formally opened by Dick Spring, minister for the environment.
1985 Acres Hall purchased by Tullamore Urban Council for offices.
1985 Balloon fire of 1785 exhibition and lectures to mark the two-hundredth
anniversary.
1992 New fire station at Kilcruttin opened at a cost of £1.5m.
1992 Town council move to new town hall at Cormac Street.
1998 Market Square improvements with move of ESB to Srah and work started on the Granary apartments.
2000 Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre opened at a cost of £1.2m with the bonded warehouse donated by Cantrell & Cochrane, the then owner of Irish Mist and Tullamore Dew.
2001 Tullamore is the 26th largest town in the state with 11,096 people in the town and suburbs 10.5% up on 1996. Athlone is the biggest in the region and 16th with 15,936, Mullingar 15,621 (25% increase), Portlaoise 28% up at 12,137.
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2002 County Council Aras on Chontae civic offices opened at Charleville Road and is later commended for architectural awards. The building comprises 16,500 sq. ft of offices, 100 car parking spaces and a council chamber.
2002 ‘Gateway’ status announced for Tullamore, Mullingar and Athlone.
2003 €33m allocated for Tullamore sewerage scheme and €12m for water scheme – Derryclure landfill to be extended by 15 years and can now accommodate 16,000 tonnes of waste
2006 Tullamore Town Council erects parking meters throughout the streets of the town of Tullamore and free car-park completed at Whitehall on Daingean Road. The action is much objected to by traders. Income expected to be close to €1m
2006 Tullamore and environs now has a population of 12,448
2007 Work on the €15m renovations to Tullamore courthouse began in March 2005 and the building was formally opened in April 2007.
2007 Work is largely completed on the €150m Tullamore hospital with 298 beds inclusive of 65-day patient
2007 Fifteen CCT cameras to be erected in Tullamore.
2007 The All Ireland Fleadh Cheoil is held in Tullamore, the first of three over the years 2007-09 and attracting large crowds of some 100,000 perhaps over the week of the event each year.
2007 €2m allocated by government for Tullamore Arts Centre
2008 Brian Cowen, T.D. representing Laois-Offaly since 1984, elected Taoiseach on 7 May
and receives a warm welcome in Tullamore and in County Offaly.
2008 Lloyd Town Park opened at Cormac Street after extensive renovations by the then taoiseach Brian Cowen.
2008 New €12.8m swimming pool and leisure centre completed for Tullamore
2009 The €116m bypass is opened by the then taoiseach Brian Cowen.
2009 New 47-unit town council scheme officially opened at Puttaughan. The total number of houses completed by the council in Tullamore since 1903 is about 1,800 and the council has an involvement in a further 250 houses. A scheme of 16 two-bed houses for the elderly is opened at Tihilly – north of Clontarf Road.
2010 Over 4,000 people on the Live Register in Tullamore (inc Clara) an increase of over 100 per cent in two years.
2010 Tullamore Town Council celebrates its 150th anniversary.
2010 Tullamore to get a 250-seat arts centre at Kilbride Park
2011 Tullamore’s €150m hospital is officially opened by Brian Cowen in one of his last ceremonies as outgoing Taoiseach
2011 Tullamore town and environs population is now 14,361 living in 5,286 private households. Another 770 units were unoccupied.
2011 Whitehall area to get a €1.3m flood relief barrier
2011 Work on the proposed N52 upgrade from Tullamore to Kilbeggan is suspended due to government cutbacks
2012 New Tullamore Central Library opened at a cost of €2.2m
2012 Newly refurbished Tullamore D.E.W. Visitor Centre opened after a spend of €2m
2012 Traders demand 30 minutes free parking in town and 15 minutes is adopted by council.
2013 Tullamore Town Council completes three new bridges over the canal and the metal bridge of 1934 is removed.
2014 Tullamore Town Council dissolved by government along with other town councils and town commissioners in Ireland
2014 Tullamore D.E.W. Distillery to commence production in September. The council was very much a supporter in getting this iconic brand back to Tullamore
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