City council 'actively engaging' with owners of derelict former stately home  

Cork City Council has said that it is actively engaging with the owners of a derelict former stately home on the outskirts of the city, as a councillor has called for urgency as the home is “falling apart”.

Vernon Mount House, a neo-classical Georgian mansion built in the 1780s and overlooking Cork’s South Ring Rd, had fallen into dereliction in recent years and was badly damaged in a fire in 2016.

The OPW said in late 2021 that it had no jurisdiction over the property, and calls have been made by several local councillors to issue a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) so that the site could be used.

Independent councillor Kieran McCarthy recently asked the council for an update on the current planning status of Vernon Mount House and the work to unlock its dereliction.

Accruing levies

Niall O’Donnabháin, the council’s director of planning and integrated development, told him at Monday’s council meeting that Vernon Mount House was placed on the Derelict Sites Register in 2021, and has been accruing levies since that time.

Mr McCarthy told The Echo that the local authority was “actively engaging with the owners to offer its assistance with any redevelopment plans in order to secure a positive outcome for this important and challenging site.”

“It is clear that the city council’s planning directorate is putting pressure on the owners of Vernon Mount House.

“I am led to believe that there is a forthcoming meeting between City Hall and the owners of the structure to try to seek a resolution on the future of the property,” he said.

“It is a really great shame seeing this once historic structure falling apart to its foundations. An urgent resolution is required to secure the future of the house.”