The new building was designed in the Dutch Renaissance style, built in brick with a cement render finish at a cost of £6,000, and was officially opened by the mayor, Edward Cantwell, on 4 January 1882.

The central bay featured a square-headed doorway flanked by Doric order pilasters supporting a cornice, an entablature bearing the borough coat of arms and a segmental pediment.

On the first floor there was a tall round headed window with an architrave and a keystone flanked by paired pilasters supporting a cornice, a gable and a finial.

[3] A monument, sculpted by Joseph Kevin Bracken, intended to commemorate the lives of local people who took part in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, was unveiled outside the town hall in 1904.

A commissioner for education, Richard Bagwell, founded the Borstal Association of Ireland and became its first president, at a meeting in the town hall in May 1906.