Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca, has bitterly criticised the failure of Bray Town Council officials to hand over the Harbour Shed to the Bray Boxing Club. De Burca points out that the councillors on Bray Town Council voted to hand the public building over to the Boxing Club in June 2005.

“It was clear from the very start that council officials did not support handing over this building to the Boxing Club” she says. “That was seventeen months ago now and the shed has still not been handed over to the club. The World Boxing Championships are taking place in approximately four weeks time and Bray Boxing Club has to practice in an old ramshackle room in the town because the Harbour Shed is still not available to it”.

De Burca says that the most recent delay in the process of handing the shed over to the club is to do with inadequacies in the lease that was offered to the club by the officials. “The council officials strongly advised councillors not to grant the club anything more than a 4 year 9 month lease on the shed, as they argued the club would have certain rights if the lease were for a longer period” says de Burca. “Councillors agreed to the 4 year 9 month lease but insisted that it contain a clause guaranteeing the club that alternative premises would be found for them in the future if their lease could not be renewed. However, it appears that the lease offered to the Boxing Club by officials contained no such guarantee”.

“When the Boxing Club pointed this out to the council officials they were told that the guarantee to provide them with accommodation in the future was contained in the minutes of the council meeting where the issue had been discussed” says de Burca. “This is totally unacceptable. The club will spend considerable amounts of money renovating the harbour shed, although their lease is a short one. Yet Bray Town Council officials are asking them to rely on minutes of a council meeting to guarantee them accommodation in the future. I intend raising this issue at the next council meeting and will insist that the officials provide the club with a letter guaranteeing that suitable premises will be provided for them in a few years time when their lease expires”.