The historic convent in Ballaghaderreen won’t become a mosque – after it was sold to a Galwayman yesterday for €75,000.

Former archaeologist Cormac Corcoran, who works in Oranmore, has no definite plans for listed building.

The moment the historic St Mary’s Convent in Ballaghaderreen sold for €75,000 in an auction in the Central Bar in Roscommon town yesterday, greatly exceeding its guide price of €50,000.
Pakistani businessman Mohammed Aslam had prompted controversy when he expressed an interest in purchased the protected structure, built in 1876, and turning it into a mosque.
But he withdraw his interest because of the conflict the idea generated in the community.
It left Cormac Corcoran, from Galway city, to purchase it after bidding war with other interested parties.
A former archaeologist who’s interested in old buildings, he declined to be interviewed afterwards, but did speak to Michael Scally, who was one a number of Ballaghaderreen people who attended the auction.