Following a recent meeting of Bray Town Council at which the Draft Leases for the Boathouses and Harbour Shed were discussed by councillors, Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca, has called for the leases to offer ‘security of tenure’ to the Queen of Peace Adventure Club and the Boxing Club. De Burca claims that without this guarantee, the clubs will find it impossible to attract National Lottery or other such funding.

The Green Party councillor stated that finally, she is hopeful that the Draft Leases will now come before Bray Town Councillors at their meeting of July 18^th to be adopted. “Fifteen months after we first decided to give these public buildings over to deserving community groups, we eventually have the Draft Leases coming before us to be adopted” says de Burca. “But now pressure is being applied to councillors to limit the leases to a period of 4 years and 11 months, so that the clubs will have no right to have them renewed” she says. “This will mean that the clubs will not be able to avail of National Lottery or similar funding sources as these require clubs to have a long-term lease on their premises”.

De Burca also points out that both clubs will have to spend a considerable amount of money on renovating the buildings they will occupy, and that this expenditure makes little sense if they are only being offered a lease of 4 years 11 months. “The clubs will have to face the possibility that, without any guarantee of a renewal of their lease, they may be without a premises again after the four year eleven month period is up, and after spending big money renovating them” she says. “This is crazy. We continually talk about how to tackle the problem of anti-social behaviour, yet these clubs provide important outlets for young teenagers who would otherwise be hanging around street corners. Why are we dragging our heels and trying to make sure that these public buildings are eventually handed over to business interests, rather than worthy community groups”?

The Green Party councillor has proposed that the leases offered to both clubs should contain a clause that guarantees them that the council will renew their leases when they expire, or offer them a new lease for an alternative premises that will meet with their approval. “It is possible that new premises may become available through the planned new Bray Harbour Development Project” she says. “We should build the option into the present leases that the clubs might be offered new premises at the Harbour to which they can move if it meets with the agreement of the clubs”.