FERMANAGH and Omagh District Council is recommending that it terminates the lease at its art gallery housed in the Clinton Centre at the end of this month, prompting fresh questions over the long-term future of the Enniskillen facility.

Opened in a blaze of publicity by Bill Clinton in 2002, the building, which is located on the site of the 1987 Enniskillen Remembrance Day bomb, was named after the former US president in recognition of the role he played in bringing peace to Northern Ireland.

Billed as an “ideal business centre” for conferences and meetings, the facility was at one stage home to a youth hostel, cafe and Council-run art gallery.

More recently, it also housed a one-stop Social Enterprise hub.

However, the cafe closed in 2012, Hostelling International Northern Ireland pulled out in December 2012 and the lease for the Social Enterprise hub was not renewed at the end of March this year.

Now, it has emerged that Fermanagh and Omagh District Council is to terminate the lease of the Higher Bridges Art Gallery, which has been housed in the Clinton Centre for almost 17 years.

In recommending the decision to end the lease on June 30, Council officials observed that general usage and footfall at the building had “significantly decreased” since the closure of the cafe in October 2012.

Fermanagh and Omagh councillors are due to consider the matter at the local authority’s next monthly meeting on Tuesday, June 6.

Meanwhile, the final show on the site, a series of photographic works curated by Dr. Suzanne Lyle, is being launched tomorrow (Friday) and will continue until Saturday, June 17.

Sean Henry, who manages the Clinton Centre, insists that the closure of the art gallery would allow essential maintenance work to be carried out at the facility ahead of a relaunch as an “educational hub” later this year.

But he was unable to say how the work will be paid for, with the Centre about to lose rental income of £8,000 per year from the lease of the gallery space.

Speaking to the Impartial Reporter yesterday (Wednesday), Mr. Henry confirmed that the Centre will be closed over the summer months for the work but will re-open in September or October.

He also revealed that a number of international hospitality and tourism students had been making use of the Centre during the last year while they were on placement in Fermanagh.

In a report presented to FODC’s Regeneration and Community Committee, it was revealed that the Council had been renting the art gallery in the Clinton Centre on a rolling six-month contract basis since April 2015.

The report’s author stated this had been done with a view to terminating the lease after the opening of the redeveloped Fermanagh County Museum with increased temporary exhibition provision.

Noting that general usage and footfall at the Clinton Centre had decreased in recent years, officers estimated that “less than 10 people per day” were now viewing the gallery.

The report added: “The Clinton Centre needs remedial work to ensure disability access to the building and has well-documented parking and physical access issues. There are, therefore, issues of concern around access to the arts and community engagement.”

Dismissing concerns about what the closure of the gallery would mean for the Clinton Centre, Mr. Henry said that it was the first opportunity in around 10 years to get essential maintenance work done.

Pointing out that the outside of the Centre had been recently painted, the manager said that a “lot of stuff” needed to be done inside to prepare the facility for the “next stage”.

Admitting that there was “no big golden pot of money”, Mr. Henry said they were looking to develop the facility as an educational hub.

He said there was “significant interest” in using the Centre as a base from colleges and universities on both sides of the Border.

Confirming that the facility would be closed during the summer months, Mr. Henry added that it will be “back up and fully functioning” by September or October at the latest.