A historic (but derelict) 200 year old Kildare house 'should be protected'

The historic Market House in Naas should be preserved as a protected structure.

The call came from Labour Party councillor Anne Breen.

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Kildare County Council points out that while it is protected, the site “is in private

ownership and not in the control of KCC.”

Cllr Bill Clear told a Naas Municipal District committee meeting that the owner has assured him that “he’s putting in a planning notice.”

“We’ve heard that before,” replied Cllr Breen.

The owner of the Market House, adjacent to the Grand Canal in Naas, has said previously that proposals for a boutique hotel and eatery have been drawn up.

Pat Keane, who developed the Hanged Man’s pub and restaurant in Milltown, Newbridge, said in February he has had discussions with KCC and he wants to build a hotel with up to a dozen bedrooms and a restaurant.

The plan is for a “boutique hotel”, a term used to describe small capacity enterprises located in fashionable urban settings.

"The plans are almost ready,” he said, adding that he hopes to start work once permission comes through.

Mr Keane has owned Market House for some time and in 2018 KCC granted planning permission for a restaurant and pub there.

That proposal envisaged new two and three storey extensions and the entire building was to have a total gross floor area of just over 1,000 square metres.

When KCC previously granted permission for a pub/restaurant to the Keanes in April 2009, it sought levies totalling €351,500, which, along with the recession, was among the reasons the plans did not proceed at that time.