Finance | Thurles Information

Liberty Square, Thurles, Co. Tipperary – So what’s the Plan?

“Fail to plan and you plan to fail”

The €9 million plus rejuvenation of Liberty Square, Thurles is surely be welcomed. Improvements have been made both below ground and above ground, and most people will agree that the lighting fixtures and granite pavement choices for the square are aesthetically pleasing.

Nevertheless, the persistent presence of a maze of barricades, coupled with the disappearance of beloved trees and the apparent narrowing of the roadways, has prompted quite a lot of head scratching, eyebrow raising and questioning among locals of late.

**With 4 traffic lanes reduced to 2, in Liberty SquareThurles ;** [**See HERE]** **how will ordinary street traffic pull out of the way, to avoid emergency vehicles, latter responding to any emergency incident. *e.g. Ambulance / Doctor / Fire Brigade services*?**
*Pic: G. Willoughby*

Here are just some of the questions being asked by our readers and Thurles residents.

(1) When will the rejuvenation project actually finish? Rumours abound, but at best it is estimated to be possibly March/April 2022 and at worst it could be July/August 2022.

(2) As the pedestrian areas on Liberty Square expand and increase while road space decreases, will there actually be sufficient space for ordinary traffic to pull over to avoid emergency vehicles, e.g. ambulances and fire engines, latter responding to emergency incidents, not to mention the ability of 20 wheeler delivery trucks, to pass, travelling in different directions? [See picture above.]

(3) If plans are being aimed to deter traffic and attract pedestrians, what impact will this have on our surrounding streets and roads?

(4) Having removed our healthy trees in an act of what can only be described as sheer savagery, are there any plans to replant same?

(5) We have beautiful pavements and an abundance of pedestrian space, but what is going to be done to get foot fall on these footpaths?

(6) What plans are in place to support and stimulate the Liberty Square economy?

Finding the answers to these questions is proving difficult based on current plans.

Although limited consultations have taken place with local residents, business owners and other interested parties, same appear to be little more than token in nature with none of the submissions by residents being implemented.

Indeed, it would appear that a final version of the plan for Liberty Square’s rejuvenation has yet to be released to the public. Some locals worry that the absence of a final plan and completion date may be indicative of inadequate planning. As the saying goes “fail to plan and you plan to fail”. Let’s hope that this isn’t the case.

We could all do without the continued wastage of public time and money, as was experienced with the planning on the Clongour Road and Slievenamon Road Junction.

Vestas Secure Order For Lisheen 3 Project In Co. Tipperary.

Turbine manufacturer Vestas, latter the energy industry’s global partner on sustainable energy solutions, yesterday confirmed it had secured a 29MW order from Ørsted for the Danish companies Lisheen 3 project here in County Tipperary.

Vestas design, manufacture, install, and service wind turbines right across the globe, and with +136 GW of wind turbines in 84 countries, they currently are regarded as the world leaders in wind power manufacture.

The Ørsted order will include supply, installation and servicing of eight 3.45MW turbines, each ramped up to 3.6MW operation.

This will be the third phase of Vestas-supplied wind parks at the Lisheen Co. Tipperary location, following the installation of 36MW and the 24MW extensions already put in place.

Vestas will continue to repair the turbines through a 20-year long-term Active Output Management 5000 (AOM 5000) service contract, which will provide energy efficiency assurance and Vestas’ industry-leading service experience.

This third phase of the Lisheen project will continue to deliver on the target set in Ireland’s Climate Action Plan of achieving 70% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

Deliveries are expected to begin in the third quarter of 2022, while commissioning is expected start in the final quarter of 2022.

General Motors Drop Teneo Following CEO Declan Kelly Harassment Claims.

The Financial Times have confirmed that following what are described as “a series of discussions”, General Motors (GM) has dropped Teneo as its public relations adviser.

General Motors is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, which designs, manufactures, markets, and distributes vehicles and vehicle parts, while also selling financial services. The company is one of the world’s largest auto-mobile manufacturers; ranked number 18 on the ‘Fortune 500’ rankings of the largest United States corporations, by total revenue.

Same disassociation comes about following allegations that Teneo’s Tipperary born chief executive Mr Declan Kelly, (brother of Tipperary Labour Party leader and current TD Mr Alan Kelly), inappropriately touched women at a fundraising event last month. This revelation, which had not been shared widely inside Teneo, has put pressure on private equity group CVC Capital Partners, (latter a world leader in private equity and credit), which in 2019 had bought a majority stake in the business for $350m. The deal then valued Teneo at more than $700m.

Teneo, who presently sponsor the Tipperary Senior Hurling team, is now reportedly seeking to reassure its multinational clients.

We understand that Mr. Kelly became inebriated and behaved inappropriately towards some women and men at the event, according to a spokesperson for Mr Kelly, who spoke to the Financial Times.

Mr Kelly continues to remain as Chairperson and Chief Executive of the public relations and advisory company Teneo, which is headquartered in New York City, with an office in Dublin, Ireland.

Tipperary Hurling Sponsor Declan Kelly Accused Of Drunken Antics At Charity Event.

According to Independent.ie, multi-millionaire PR mogul and Tipperary senior hurling sponsor Mr Declan Kelly, brother of Labour Leader and TD Mr Alan Kelly, has temporally stepped aside from some of his responsibilities as the CEO and chairperson of Teneo; latter, the strategy firm he co-founded. This follows accusations of drunkenly misbehaving at a charity event last month.

A statement made by a spokesperson for the chief executive said, Mr Kelly became inebriated and behaved inappropriately towards women and men at a cocktail party for a fundraising concert hosted by Global Citizen on May 2nd last, which was chaired by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and featured performances by Jennifer Lopez, Foo Fighters and Selena Gomez, as well as appearances from President Joe Biden and Pope Francis.

Global Citizen, headquartered in New York, with offices in Canada, South Africa, Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom, is a movement of engaged citizens who are using their collective voice to end extreme poverty by 2030.

Tipperary-born Mr Kelly is understood to have been asked for his resignation the day after the event, and resigned his board seat at Global Citizen, latter an anti-poverty charity, chaired by Mr Chris Stadler, the managing partner of CVC Capital Partners, the majority shareholder in Teneo.

The spokesperson’s statement further confirmed that Mr Kelly regretted his actions and had apologised to those he had offended. Mr Kelly had also “temporarily reduced his work responsibilities”, was now “committed to sobriety” and was “undertaking ongoing counselling from healthcare professionals”.

Technology Provider Fiserv To Add 200 Jobs In Co. Tipperary.

Fiserv plans to expand their research and development in Nenagh Co. Tipperary.

The payments and financial services technology provider Fiserv, situated at Stereame, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, E45 WF84 is to add 200 jobs over the next three years, as the company continues to expands its research and development operations here in the county.

The company, which acquires SpendLabs to enhance digital payments for small and medium-sized businesses, is recruiting for roles in application and web development, cloud infrastructure, data science and architecture, as it responds to a growing demand for digital solutions among its present clients and consumers.

The Nenagh Technology Centre first opened in 2017 and has since been developing new services that facilitate the movement of money and information.

An Tánaiste Mr Leo Varadkar has welcomed the news, stating, “This is really great news for Nenagh and the mid-west region,” he said. “These 200 new jobs are a welcome boost and one which the Government is very happy to support. Tipperary has the talent and skills to bring Fiserv to the next level and I wish the team the very best of luck with this expansion.”

This expansion in Nenagh is being supported by the Government through IDA Ireland.