The erection of a 6.5-metre illuminated Golden Arches sign, at the new McDonald’s Drive-Thru in Thurles has reportedly been granted permission, according to local press reports.
Three local residents had lodged objections, citing concerns about light pollution, road safety, wildlife and the impact on nearby homes.
One objector highlighted an existing planning condition banning totem and banner signs at the development. They questioned the justification for changing that restriction, arguing that the application offered insufficient new evidence.
Another resident had raised concerns about how the illuminated sign could affect neighbouring private homes.
The press reports states that permission was granted despite those objections.
Nothing surprising George. They were always going to pull this stroke. Notice was probably up on the site with the main building work ongoing, so anybody would have presumed it was the original application. Fair dues to the three objectors for paying attention.
McDonalds aren’t really the villain of this piece. This is standard operating procedure for them. They’d bulldoze a fairy fort, a famine grave, the sacred sod of Semple itself, if it offered an advantageous position for trade. Tipp Co. Council though, well that’s a different matter. If Supermac’s were to apply for permission for a drive thru on the Nenagh Road, for example, would such an application even have been entertained? And if any business in the whole of Thurles wanted to erect an absolutely garish illuminated 8-metre sign would that have been considered? Even if it was tasteful? Would it by Fred!
This isn’t an 8-metre sign advertising a burger joint, it’s a giant middle finger to a neighbourhood reminding them that corporations with the sneaky acquiescence of spineless planning officials in Tipperary County Council run the show in Thurles. And they always will.
Every single thing about McDonalds is plastic and disposable even the fake plastic ivy screen that runs for tens of metres along the both roads of the site. Can’t see Tipperary County Council making any waves over that either.
Can’t be long now before they apply for the 24-hour license to operate. I guarantee George, that if they were 200 objections to that, Tipperary County Council would still rubber stamp it.
Another day in Ireland Inc.
Well said Joe.
I don’t think they will apply for planning permission to extend the opening hours to 24hrs. Other than motorway service stations, standalone 24hr restaurants and supermarkets in towns are from a bygone era Celtic Tiger Ireland. McDonald’s and Tesco have reduced their opening times in recent years. Tesco doesn’t operate any 24hr stores anymore, both Nenagh and Clonmel which were formerly 24hrs now close at 10pm Monday to Saturday and 9pm on a Sunday. I live near the McDonald’s in Portlaoise and it closes at 10/11pm every night. Portlaoise is a busier town than Thurles.
Regarding Supermacs. A lot of people still thinks it’s locally owned by a franchisee. This was true when it first opened but Supermacs in Thurles is owned by Pat McDonagh the founder of Supermacs. It is no longer a franchise and was taken over by Pat McDonagh a very long time ago.
Who is Pat McDonagh?
Pat McDonagh is a former school teacher from County Galway.In 1978 he opened the first Supermacs in Ballinasloe after planning permission for a pool hall was refused.
In 2018 Supermacs/McDonagh applied for planning permission for a drive-tru restaurant in Ennis County Clare. Around 187 near-identical letters of support were submitted to Clare County Council. Many of these (40) turned out to be fake with people’s names and signatures used without their permission including a man who had died 15 years earlier and a local TD.
McDonagh has denied that he or the company was behind the fake letters. He said he was “horrified, shocked and annoyed,” that the company had “no hand, act, or part” in them, and that using people’s names without permission was illegal. He noted the firm had been approached by locals who said they were gathering genuine support signatures and had agreed to reimburse the €20 fees, but later refused to pay because the exercise was not legitimate. He called for a Garda investigation.
Supermacs pay minimum wage or just very slightly above minimum wage.
Supermacs has taken court case as part of an alliance that successfully challenged the constitutionality of the Joint Labour Committee wage setting system in the High Court which had previously set legally binding minimum rates above the national baseline for the catering sector.This struck down wage rules r.e Sunday premiums and other allowances that were mandated by the JLC.
During the COVID lockdowns McDonagh called his workers and others temporarily laid off lazy and compared the pandemic unemployment payment (€350 per week) as to them winning the lottery.
The Barrack Obama Plaza (along with the M7 motorway) destroyed Moneygall village with the local shops closing because traffic that would have normally travelled along the old N7 was diverted along the M7. Any vehicles exiting the motorway to Moneygall arrive literally at the door of the Barrack Obama Plaza.
The Barrack Obama Plaza is actually not in County Offaly, it is in County Tipperary right on the border and it was Tipperary North County Council that granted permission for this to be built. The community has tried to fight back somewhat with the opening of a local community cafe. I passed through Moneygall on Tuesday and was delighted to see the cafe was full that day, but the local shops and post office are all long gone. Locals have to travel to nearby Cloughjordan and Toomevara to collect their pensions or child benefit payments.