Major Mayo street to remain closed until 'early next week'

An update from Mayo county officials has confirmed that the former Tulsi restaurant building "sustained substantial structural damage."

The view of the HSA, Gardai, the insurance assessors and our own structural engineer is that, "there is a real risk of uncontrolled collapse of the building, which poses a risk to the public and adjacent buildings."

In particular, the tall front facade could potentially collapse onto both lanes of the street and we therefore have made the decision to keep the full road and footpaths closed to protect the public.

The impact on traffic around the town is evident and the council has stated that it has been working with the owner and his representatives all week on a solution to making the building safe to allow us open the road.

Given the location of the building and the nature of the damage, appropriate mitigation measures or a methodology for demolition has been difficult.

Fortunately, from discussions that have taken place with the owner's team yesterday afternoon/evening, the council believe there is now a potential methodology emerging.

"They are working on the details over the weekend and we will be discussing on Tuesday. The indications from yesterday's discussions are that it will take a few days to implement the works, so in all likelihood the soonest we will be able to open the road is towards the end of next week."

Head of Castlebar Municipal District, David Mellett said he "cannot give any certainty on timelines until we see the details on Tuesday." He also stressed that, "public safety is the priority but we do appreciate the impact the road closure is having and we're working towards getting the road open in part or fully as soon as possible."

New diversion signage has also been erected around the town which will see thousands converge tomorrow for Mayo v Galway in the Allianz National League round 2 clash.