Improvements to Opening Hours and Promotion of Cahir Abbey Following Brian Hayes’s Visit

South Tipperary T.D. Tom Hayes has welcomed a number of improvements to the access to and promotion of Cahir Abbey as a result of Brian Hayes T.D.’s visit to the Abbey.

“As Minister of State in the Department of Finance, Brian Hayes T.D. is also Minister with Responsibility for the O.P.W. and I was very pleased to be able to arrange for him to visit Cahir Abbey and to meet with concerned parties about the preservation and promotion of the Abbey,” Tom Hayes T.D. said.

“There have been ongoing concerns about the opening hours of the site, but the Minister was able to confirm that the site is to be opened by O.P.W. staff every weekday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.,” Tom Hayes T.D. said.

“In terms of promotion of the Abbey, a number of measures have been agreed by the Minister of State. To ensure that local visitors and tourists alike will be aware of the opening hours, notices are to be placed on the OPW website, on-site in the Abbey, in Cahir Castle and in Swiss Cottage. The guides working in Cahir Castle and Swiss Cottage will inform visitors to these sites of the Abbey’s existence and opening hours from now on. A display board providing information on the history of the Abbey is to be made available by the OPW inside the building. The OPW will erect an extra signpost from the Tipperary Road pointing towards the Abbey.

“The OPW are strongly supportive of improved NRA signage to designate Cahir as a Heritage Town from Junction 10 or 11 on the motorway. The NRA have already given Kilkenny Castle similar road signage from the Motorway at the Urlingford Junction, and this will be very important in informing people of the town’s historical amenities.”

“It is also planned that the tower house over the Abbey’s church will be accessible for visitors.”

“I was very pleased to have been able to bring Minister Brian Hayes to Cahir Abbey to resolve these issues. The Abbey is beautiful building and its importance historically needs to be recognised. The changes in access, promotion and signage will all help to make the Abbey the attraction it deserves to be and add to its status as a Heritage Town,” Tom Hayes T.D. said.