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A new €3.6 million building was opened this week in the Tipperary Technology Park in Thurles.
This Park is owned and managed by Shannon Development and is promoted in co-operation with IDA Ireland, Thurles Chamber, Thurles Town Council, Tipperary North County Council, Thurles Marketing Group and the private sector.
The new building, ‘Innovation Works 3’, is now the third building in this Technology Park and brings the total investment by Shannon Development in this parkland venture to €7.4 million.
This new building comprises a 21,500 sq/ft two-storey office building and associated site works including an increase to the existing car parking area, bringing a total industrial space in the Park to now over 45,000sq/ft.
Shannon Development has now 57 Business Technology Parks and Industrial Estates right across the Shannon Region which includes counties Clare, North Kerry, Limerick, South Offaly and North Tipperary. These parks feature turn key state of the art Office Accommodation, Distribution Warehousing and Incubation Spaces, to meet the demands of small or large scale businesses with either local or international interests.
Tipperary Technology Park is home to a number of investment projects and it has a core facility for incubating and growing new Irish technology companies. Present clients range from those operating in the cutting edge sphere of nano-biomaterials, to clients in digital cinema, to the international services sector and highlight Thurles as a superb location for entrepreneurship, in both tourism and business.
Businesses requiring further information on Tipperary Technology Park should contact Mr Brian Keating, Development Manager, at Shannon Development Tipperary Technology Park, Thurles, Tel: 086-2843803 or 0504-29300, or email: keatingb@shannondevelopment.ie
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Mr Batt O’Keeffe TD, officially opened the building, against a backdrop of over 7,125 people currently unemployed in North Tipperary and with 196 further persons having just joined the dole queue in May of this year.
The Irish national overall unemployment figures now stand at over 13.7%, registering the highest number of unemployed people ever, in the history of the Irish State, with 439,100 now in receipt of support.
 Bord Gáis is ready and willing to introduce natural gas to major North Tipperary towns, but a lack of Government commitment is hindering this initiative.
On Wednesday last Bord Gáis Chief Executive, Mr John Mullins, addressed the Oireachtas Communications Committee, of which North Tipperary Fine Gael TD Deputy Noel Coonan is a member.
Responding to Committee’s questions on Wednesday morning last, Mr John Mullins stated:
“We have identified 73 towns where we could introduce natural gas but only four were successful. At the end of the day, we do not make the decision on what towns get connected. Only four out of 73 towns in our most recent study got connected and it is fair to say Thurles was not far off the mark. I have no problem in laying pipes in North Tipperary and providing cheaper energy than current existing energy arrangements. The CER take our submissions and decide what we can and cannot do. I have no difficulty in bringing gas to towns if the body politic want that to happen. We did put our best foot forward.”
Following the meeting Thurles.Info spoke to Deputy Noel Coonan, who stated:
“I asked John Mullins whose fault is it that Thurles, Nenagh, Templemore and Roscrea are still without natural gas and the CEO went out of his way to confirm that Bord Gáis want to lay pipes in these towns but the Government and Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) have the final say in these matter. Bord Gáis has the engineers, the staff, the resources and the willpower needed to push ahead. Of course they are eager to do so as it would mean more customers for them but there is no financial commitment or Government support. Natural gas recently came to Tipperary Town and I question if this was influenced by having a Government Deputy residing in the constituency. We need to bring gas to these North Tipperary locations, to lower the cost of energy and to help support people in their existing jobs. It is clear that state funding is needed to deliver gas to these towns. Will the Government rise to the occasion and ensure there is competitive infrastructure in rural areas like these? I will continue to pressurize Minister Eamon Ryan on this matter.We do not have a natural gas pipe supply in the four main towns in North Tipperary and this is not satisfactory and is part of the reason why the north of the county is being left to decay.”
 Simon Coveney TD, Mayor Denis Ryan, Party Leader Enda Kenny, Deputy Noel Coonan and Cllr. Ger Darcy Well over 300 people attended a public meeting hosted by F.G. Deputy Noel Coonan in Damer Court Hotel on Monday evening last.
During the meeting Deputy Coonan received assurances from Party Leader Enda Kenny that Roscrea and North Tipperary will be high priority for Fine Gael in Government and the party will do its utmost to ensure that this now neglected region flourishes.
Roscrea town was chosen as the location for this inaugural meeting of Fine Gael’s National Campaign on the Party’s Jobs Plan NewERA which was launched last Thursday. Speaking in the Damer Court Hotel on Monday night, Deputy Coonan said he believed the large turnout sent a clear message to Deputy Kenny and Simon Coveney TD, Communications Spokesperson, that our concern is to make Roscrea a leading provincial town in Ireland as we continue to feel the brunt of this recession following the recent closure of Taro Pharmaceuticals.
Deputy Coonan, who hosted and chaired the event, kick-started the meeting stating:
“This is the first in a series of meetings to outline Fine Gael’s jobs policy and it will give hope to those who have lost their jobs or struggling to hold onto jobs. We intend to provide a positive outlook for the future which is especially important here in North Tipperary, a region which has been ravaged by job losses. I have made North Tipperary a high priority of mine in the Dáil and Deputy Kenny and Deputy Coveney have responded to that priority by coming here tonight to give confidence to the people.“
Continue reading North Tipperary High Priority for F.G. In Government
 Hibernian Meats Site Yeagher Ltd have been given clearance to build a major shopping, office, and housing complex on the site of the old Hibernian Meats plant at Wrensborough Town-land, Dublin Road in Thurles.
An Bord Pleanala have given its blessing for a ‘Mixed-use Neighbourhood Centre’, made up of thirteen two-storey dwelling houses (two semi detached, two terraces of three and one terrace of five), with associated landscaping which includes road access, internal roads and car parking, hard and soft landscaping, perimeter boundary improvements; surface water and foul drainage connections, water supply, piped and cabled services ducting; and a ESB sub-station.
Planning also includes one building which will consist of a ground floor family restaurant to include a takeaway and drive-through facilities. The plans also envisage a play centre for children and early teenagers at ground, first and second floor level.
The plans for a second building entail neighbourhood convenience shops, other compatible retail shops and an associated service yard and loading area, including a ramp, a ground floor office unit, and a first floor office unit.
Project will also include a third building with a three-level “Wellness Centre”, consisting of a ground floor reception and consulting area, stairwell, service accommodation; first floor consulting room and physiotherapy suite, second floor gymnasium, and staff facilities.
A fourth building will contain a two-storey “own door” office and work units with service yard and car parking, with landscaped open space and amenity area for residential complement.
This decision overrules a previous decision by North Tipperary County Council on October 27th last year that had rejected the plans on the grounds that the layout was “inappropriate”, and incompatible with the planning objectives for the area.
This overall development will involve the demolition and removal of existing front walls, industrial buildings and all associated structures known formally as the ‘Hibernian Meats Plant’.
While this development is welcomed, there appears to be no solution to the present traffic problems experienced by daily commuters on this stretch of road, which is now forcing residents on the east side of Thurles to shop in Cashel.
 The death occurred last Wednesday of David Hough, chief executive of the Limerick based oil and gas exploration firm Circle Oil. Mr Hough, one of the first Irish entrepreneurs to be involved in Irish oil exploration, died in Abu Dhabi, aged 58.
A University College Galway geology graduate, Dave Hough joined the exploration game and travelled extensively abroad. In 1987 he was in Canada to established a company called Circle Resources in Vancouver. A year later he was back home, financing an exploration operation in Limerick called Ivernia West. Mr Hough set up the exploration firm Ivernia West in 1988. The firm, with oil giant Chevron, would claim to discover zinc ore at Lisheen in Co Tipperary.
Mr Hough is one of only a handful of Irish mining men who disproved the geography books, by both finding and bringing into production an Irish metalliferous mine in the 20th century and was the very mainspring behind the Lisheen orebody find, in Tipperary.
Mr Hough’s story is one of not only persistence, but it is also a sullen depressing tale of the mining industry in the past 30 years. It starts usually displaying great promise, is then halted by the usual and seemingly endless stream of ownership and legal disputes which waste badly needed company resources. When it does finally gets into production, the international price cycle for metals take a down turn world wide.
However, two years later, with the exploration major Chevron in to assist, the company hits pay-dirt, zinc is confirmed at Lisheen, Co Tipperary. It would be however, nine long years of delays and legal wrangles before Lisheen would come into full production.
Mr Hough, as then chief executive of Ivernia West for 15 years, stepped down from his position in 2003. His departure from the helm of the company he founded, coincided with the sale of its last Irish asset, namely the 50% stake in the Lisheen zinc mine here in Co Tipperary.
In 2003, Mr Hough set up Circle Oil with licences in Namibia, Panama, in the Caribbean and in the Celtic Sea.
To his family and numerous friends go our deepest and heart-felt sympathies.
Go ndéana Dia trócaire ar a anam dílis.
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