‘Don’t let this be the end’ - plea to reopen Kilkenny Squash Club facilities

A squash club that was founded and has played on courts inside James Stephens Barracks in Kilkenny for 55 years has been told by the Department of Defence it was not aware the club had access to a military facility for all that time.

The temporary Covid lockdown has turned into a permanent lockout for the members of Kilkenny Squash Club who are now pleading with the Department of Defence to come to some arrangement with the club to ensure its future survival.

After a lifetime of commitment to the club, its president Dick Hanrahan says they can’t accept being ‘put out for no reason’.

The club was formed in the late 1960s for both army personnel and civilians, who were paid-up members from the beginning. Since then the club has had as many as 180 members, won leagues and provided decades of sporting activity for many.

But as other leisure and social facilities across the country reopened when lockdown lifted, the squash club was not permitted to resume activities.

In correspondence to the club, last December, they were told ‘the Department was heretofore unaware of your pre-Covid access to a military facility on a non-regularised basis and unlicensed basis’.

As a result of this the Department of Defence conducted a safety audit on the building and found it is ‘no longer fit for purpose as a squash playing facility’ due to the need for remedial works to the building and roof.
The Department also says it needs the building for military training facilities.

But the club says members have put their hands in their pockets in the past when the courts needed work. Members paid their membership fees all this time and in the 1980s more than 20 members bought ‘lifetime membership’ of the club to pay for refurbishments.

Tommy Gleeson, the club treasurer, made ID cards for members to use going into the barracks, and they would sign in with gate security.
When competitions with other clubs took place all visitors’ names were provided in advance, for security reasons.

“We had a thriving club and to have no squash club in the city now is a shame,” said Brian Buggy. “When the army closed the door on us they closed the door on squash in Kilkenny.”

He adds that when a government decision was being made in 2013 as to whether Kilkenny or Clonmel army barracks would close, the public involvement in activities at James Stephens Barracks was a key part of the campaign to keep it open.

He said they could approach the County Council for a new venue, but that could take years, the club needs a facility now and the best in Kilkenny is in the army barracks. That, and the club are ‘totally broke’ as the civilian committee only took control of finances in 2019.

The club wants to sit down and negotiate access with the Department of Defence.
For the last 55 years the club was run well, Dick said, and the ‘outsiders’ never had any complaints. Members of the defence forces and civilians played squash together. Recruits were encouraged to join in.

The club has approached local councillors, TDs and written to two Ministers for Defence.
Dick said the club want to see the facility reopened and a full discussion with the defence forces about the future of the squash club, and ‘whatever agreement is reached, we will honour it’.
“What we are saying is ‘sit down with us and talk to us’,” Brian said. “If the army say this is the end of it, then that’s the end of the club.”

A petition has been set up calling for reopening of Kilkenny Squash Club. To sign CLICK HERE. Click the arrows to read more of this story and for a gallery of pictures from over the years at Kilkenny Squash Club!