In 1860, the corporation asked the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, George Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle, to support an application an HM Treasury for a contribution to the cost,[1] with the balance being financed by public subscription.

[6] It was designed by William Hague in the Lombard Romanesque style, built by Crowe Brothers in rubble masonry with ashlar stone dressings at a cost of £6,863, and was opened for business in time for the a meeting of the council in July 1872.

The central bay featured an entrance, which was slightly projected forward, involving a round headed doorway flanked by colonnettes supporting an architrave and a keystone.

The clock tower was built by a local contractor, Patrick Morris, and paid for by the Harbour Commissioners, on the basis that it gave them a good view of shipping entering and leaving the port.

[17] A statue to commemorate the life of the Irish nationalist politician, P. A. McHugh, sculpted by Hanrahan of Dublin, was re-located from outside the post office in O'Connell Street,[18] to the front of the town hall in the 1970s.