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 An Bord Pleanála have rejected plans to build a major shopping centre on the site of the old Erin Foods factory here in Thurles.
The original decision to close the Erin Foods Factory came about after a group-wide review by the then parent company, Premier Foods, in November 2007, to consolidate the manufacturing of a number of its key brands. The plant closed the following June with the loss of 95 jobs.
Thurles Town Council had granted initial permission for the planned development on September 13th last year, subject to 19 conditions to the original plans submitted, which related mainly to the size of the property and the required modifications to various road and access routes.
Baycross Developments Limited had put forward the plans for the demolition of the old Erin Foods factory, replacing it with a retail development which had included a Fast Food drive-through outlet, a Supermarket, Restaurant, two ESB Substations, Vehicular and Pedestrian access, a Cycle Track, the provision of two Roundabouts and other associated development works on the Slievenamon Road, Clongour, Thurles Town Parks area of the town.
The initial plans had attracted considerable local opposition from the Thurles’ business community, with concerns that such a large-scale complex proposed, would delete footfall from Liberty Sq, Thurles, with many understandably fearing that this new complex would now destroy the character and commercial activity, once so vibrant in the town centre.
Over a period spanning some 15 years to date, Thurles has lost some 1,700 jobs due to factory and other business closures, with none of these jobs having been replaced to-date .
Two communications sent recently by the tourism group Hidden Tipperary, to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mr Richard Bruton, in the hope of generating serious debate on the current jobless plight of Thurles, have as yet only received standard token acknowledgements.
Acknowledgement received:
Dear Mr Willoughby,
I wish to acknowledge receipt of your email to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mr Richard Bruton TD.
I will bring your correspondence to the Minister’s attention at the earliest opportunity.
Yours sincerely
Helen Pyke.
Minister Bruton’s Office.
Derrynaflan Hoard
Meanwhile the decision required to seek the repatriation of the Derrynaflan Hoard back to its home here in Thurles Co.Tipperary, now remains shrouded in secrecy. No information to-date has been made available to the public confirming an earlier communications from Noel Coonan TD, (Dated April 15th. last ) which stated that the matter would be decided by North Tipperary Co Council and Thurles Town Council, following the disclosure of ‘imaginary meetings,’ some two weeks previous.
It would appear, confirmed by local press reports, that our current Tipperary elected representatives are only interested in individual political point scoring, continuous waffling and the further enhancement of a political culture that in no way helps to expand mature public interest amongst their voting public.
This supercilious self-importance must immediately be haulted and remember you the voting public can immobilize this unashamed arrogance, beginning at the next local elections.
 Revenue Commissioners Contrary to what the Revenue Commissioners and the “Reckless, Macho and Chaotic,” Environment Minister Phil Hogan has stated, (Latter words are from the lips of Eamon Gilmore and God forbid that I should ever be accused of making such utterances.) it has emerged that only around 25% of home owners have filed their returns for the Local Property Tax (LPT). This is despite having until only close of business today to post the same returns.
Those who opt to file returns ‘Online,’ will still have until May 28th to complete same electronically. However only around 420,000 of the 1.66 million liable households or approximately one in four, have informed Revenue of how much they owe. Many others returns still remain not issued as yet and thousand more households have still to be even identified. Third level students who received incorrect demands and who own no property in the state are unlikely to even bother replying as they head for foreign parts.
Revenue’s Property Tax Manager Vivienne Dempsey, has stated that if the LPT Returns are postmarked ‘Tuesday 7/5/2013,’ Revenue will actually accept the return as having been received on time.
Obviously, from her remarks some of the people that are currently left employed in the Revenue LPT branch, and the 100 extra which are to be employed via the permission granted to break the public sector jobs embargo, together with outside contractors, are to be issued with magnifying glasses, when the problem of badly inked franking machine pads, in rural post offices, raises its ugly head in Limerick tomorrow.
Remember of course that the Revenue public officials requesting these LPT Returns are the same people who benefit from Protected Employment, Generous Sick Leave, Long Service Increments, Guaranteed Pensions and Workplace Flexibility. Together with their Unions and Staff Associations these same persons have clearly demonstrated, in recent weeks, that they, and they alone, and not the present government, actually legislate for these “Three Green Fields,” of this so called free republic, so recently invaded by Germany, in a bloodless coup.
One wonders will these same Senior Revenue Auditors, working on these LPT Returns, now receive the same generous gifts previously doled out, following their hard work investigating the infamous Bogus Non-Resident Account scams some years back. These same generous tax free gifts were given on production of a prepaid receipt for items such as foreign holidays and other trinkets and were ever so quietly palmed into the pockets of these auditors, without the full knowledge and consent of Irish taxpayers.
Bogus Non-Resident Account scams you will remember were promoted by smiling Bank Officials, in order to allow, through non-existent foreign addresses, rich customers to pay no tax, while also permitting Banks to pay low rates of interest on the poor man’s deposit account, and all at the expense of the Irish exchequer and those dependant on its generosity.
What I now fail to understand is how these same smiling, banking Gombeens, (Latter word is a pejorative term used here in Ireland for a shady, small-time “Quick Buck Merchant.” ) then proven to be dishonest through their assistance to customers in evading tax, were never prosecuted, but instead allowed to continue trading as normal, eventually leaving the residents of this country lying face down in the muck, paying tax on home ownership.
As an educated nation we sure have a very short memory.
It has just been announced that more than 807,000 visitors attended the new Titanic centre in Belfast during its first year. The attraction, built at a cost £77 million, overlooks the slipways, where the legendary liner was launched, attracted tourists from some 128 countries worldwide in one year.
Meanwhile the total visitor figures to the 4 sites owned by the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin for 2011 were 1,096,027.
 The Dublin Kildare Street Museum houses “The Treasury – Celtic and Early Christian Ireland,” exhibition, a collection of masterpieces from Celtic and Early Christian Ireland, which contains the recently conserved Tipperary owned Faddan More Psalter & the Tipperary owned Derrynaflan Hoard.
These above named two items in this Dublin exhibition, should by now be sitting in the Exhibition Centre at The Source Arts Centre, complex, but alas, due to in fighting amongst local councillors, and helpless Co Councillors & TD’s same remains to the benefit of Dublin’s continuously rising economy.
This Dublin Museum now boasts, at the expense of employment in Thurles, that it has had the 2nd highest tourism figure ever, with an overall 10% increase on the previous year 2011. You do not believe me? Then please CLICK HERE folks.
Thurles – Imagine For Just One Moment
Let us all imagine, for just one moment, that if only one third ( 365,342 visitors ) of the National Museum of Ireland’s visitors arrived in Liberty Square, Thurles, in any one year period, the difference it would make to our rural economy, in relation to full-time & part-time employment. Imagine the increase in revenues that would be returned to this present sleepy government.
A Pinch Of Powdered Rhino Horn Anyone?
Rhino heads and horns worth €500,000 were ‘pinched,’ possibly by an Irish organized crime gang, from the National Museum of Ireland’s warehouse, in Swords, Co Dublin, late on Wednesday night last. The National Museum’s previous excuse, which usually stated that only it had the necessary security to protect our national heritage, has just evaporated. This also now begs the question, why were there any artefacts stored, not being made available for viewing by our visiting guests of the Irish Nation, especially during the year of “The Gathering.”?
In our submission to Minister Jimmy Deenihan some five months ago we stated:
“Finally, we would request the Minister (Jimmy Deenihan) to immediately order a full audit of the National Museum’s present artefacts, with special emphases to be placed on items currently not on display, e.g. Sheela-na-gigs, guns, swords etc, which would further benefit other tourist centres / museums etc. within the Irish mid-lands in particular & which would in turn further encourage / tease visitors to travel …”
It would appear that despite the existence of so many small wonderful museums, right throughout the heartland of Ireland, Dublin has decided that if history cannot be viewed by tourists in “The Pale,” Irish history cannot be viewed at all.
Where now are the Thurles chests, proudly displaying the powerful “Chains of High Office,” & those others claiming to be Community Leaders, when we need them?
Note: According to the Irish Examiner, dated yesterday, employment levels in firms supported by the IDA/Enterprise Ireland (EI) have decreased by more than 19,400, or 6%, to 281,965 in the past five years. Dublin and Cork accounted for three-quarters of all net job increases at IDA companies in 2012. At the same time, Tipperary, Kildare & Leitrim, experienced net losses, yet our County & Town remains silent.
In the words of talented singer / songwriter Bruce Springsteen (Album “Wrecking Ball.”)
“The banker man grows fatter, the working man grows thin,
It’s all happened before and it’ll happen again,
Rural Tipperary Dogs Must Continue To Eat Of The Crumbs Which Fall From Their Masters’ Table
A submission request, seeking the repatriation of the Derrynaflan Hoard back to its home in Thurles Co. Tipperary has possibly fallen on deaf ears, or maybe it is a case of local politicians & Tipperary Councillors being ‘deaf in one ear and unable to hear with the other.’
Either way rural townships, like Thurles, are struggling desperately, with unemployment the single greatest stumbling block to local consumer spending.
Nationally “The Gathering 2013,” was an excellent government proposal, however the policy of continuing to fund & attract visitors to the Gateways of Ireland only; i.e. Our coastal towns & cities like Tralee, Galway, Limerick, Dublin, Waterford etc, at the expense of midland counties, is having a major effect on our Irish heartland communities.
These local communities in midland counties, like Tipperary, are becoming dangerously despondent, cynical, unenthusiastic & lifeless. Events designed to attract & continuing to be run by a remaining few well meaning & strong willed committees in midland areas, now fail to draw previously expected support, mainly because of the total lack of ‘public purse,’ funding being generously doled out only to what are described as the “Gateways to Ireland.”
(1) During the life time of our last government, over €1million was spent to attract British tourists to Dublin, by the quango previously known as the Board of Dublin Tourism now re-employed as Fáilte Ireland employees with a similar Dublin Tourism only aim.
(2) In 2013, €5 million was laid aside for Marlborough Street Bridge in Dublin, covered by the NTA (National Transport Authority), through funding provided by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.
(3) In January last Minister for Arts Jimmy Deenihan announced that Dublin’s National Gallery is to get a €20 million upgrade, thus forming a key part of the plans for the 1916 centenary commemorations in Dublin.
(4) North Tipp Labour Minister Alan Kelly announced, last February, €5 million in funding for sustainable transport projects, for guess where, yes Dublin; €2.6 million to expand the Dublin Bikes scheme as far as Kilmainham, €1.5 million for improvements to the Thomas St. / James’s Street bus-lane to shorten bus journeys from Ballyfermot and the west of the City, €250,000 to extend the existing Chapelizod – Heuston Liffey Cycle Route as far as the City Centre, €120,000 to plan an upgraded cycle-lane from the Blackhorse Bridge down Davitt Road as far as Portobello, €60,000 for pedestrian improvements in Inchicore Village & €40,000 for traffic management on Inchicore Road. These funds come as part of a €23 million allocation for the Dublin City Council area, which also includes funding for street resurfacing across the city, designing a new cycle network, and other measures that will benefit all areas of Dublin.
The list of funding for our capital city is endless, including constant job announcements, thus demonstrating that our Dublin must be taken care of as a number one priority, while not so much as a ‘red cent,’ is to be spent in promoting much of Tipperary & Thurles. In relation to Thurles, just one example of incompetence can be found by Checking HERE. Note Discover Ireland has conveniently forgotten the Thurles Butler connection.
The Derrynaflan Hoard and its arrival back home to Thurles, is now a must, for reasons already discussed HERE and sent to Minister Leo Varadkar in December 2012. (Five Months ago.) Had a decision been made, we would now have an attraction for which the current non-existent bus tour operator would immediately have included in their daily itineraries. Events could have been organised around its arrival and we could have worked together to create some small much needed employment on the back of its repatriation.
Obviously the return of these wonderful pieces of Tipperary owned Irish heritage will generated a certain resistance by others, in particular those whose economies stand to gain most at Tipperary’s expense, namely Dublin. The urgency with regard to a government decision in the repatriation of the Derrynaflan Hoard, back to Thurles, is now paramount to our town’s very existence, which has seen 14 businesses fail in just 12 months on Friar Street, Thurles alone.
Since our local elected representatives appear helpless, you our readers can assist by emailing the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton at minister@djei.ie. Remember a simple “Copy & Paste,” of the link (http://www.thurles.info/2013/04/20/thurles-gis-a-job-minister-bruton) emailed to the Minister’s Office will suffice. Alternatively, share this Blog on your Facebook Time Line.
If you have a favourite Minister you would like to contact, chances are, you can find all their Email addresses HERE.
Ministers, we also would like to be in a position to pay the heavy burden of taxation your government have levied on us, Taxes for debts brought about not by us, but by greedy Developers & Bankers, latter with which most of us had little business connections.
Note also the ransom being sought for the return of our property (€100,000 – See Noel Coonan’s correspondence in video.) is €33,000 less than the cost of sending Minister Phil Hogan & his advisor’s, jetting from Durban in South Africa to Shanghai in China and Rio de Janiero in Brazil, where he clocked up bills of €133,000 since he took office in March 2011. His 181,000km round trips in the past two years are the equivalent of a trip halfway to our moon.
Silence is no longer an option for Thurles & County Tipperary.
“It is morally wrong, unjust and unfair to tax a person’s home.” – Enda Kenny, 1994.
“We are going to face the electoral difficulties that the Labour Party now faces.” – Eamon Gilmore 2013.
“We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, …” – Irish Republic Proclamation.
 Anti-Home Tax protests in Dublin & in Hayes Hotel Thurles, Tipperary. The anti-Local Property Tax and austerity protest rally which gathered outside City Hall in Dublin city yesterday afternoon, must surely have shown Fine Gael and its weakest link, namely the Labour Party, the overall mood of the Irish electorate. Gardaí, whose figures are normally accurate for such protest marches, have estimated that at least 5,000 people took part.
The protesters were made up of Socialist Party and People Before Profit members joining with unions and anti-austerity groups, and was set to coincide with the meeting of EU Finance Ministers in Dublin Castle. Roads in the vicinity of Dublin Castle were cordoned off, as were all entrances to the Castle yard.
Speakers, using the more accurate description of “Home Tax,” instead of Local Property Tax, urged the assembled crowd not to pay and promised a National Campaign of Resistance.
The Revenue Commissioners claim that at least 60,000 home owners have made their property tax returns via 36,888 electronic returns and 23,068 paper files, however it is unlikely they are, as yet, fully aware of the true substance contained in each individual return. This percentage of tax returns submitted falls far short of the 1.2 million local property tax letters, covering more than 1.3 million properties, which have been issued through the Revenue’s online services. Thousands of demands for example have been issued to those who only rent and who own no property whatsoever in the Irish State currently.
While attendees at the Thurles Local Property Tax (LPT) information & protest meeting, organised Deputy Seamus Healy on Wednesday April 10th last in Hayes Hotel was small, (around 50 angry souls, mainly pensioners, did turn up), the fury here also was very evident. There were many calls to boycott government party local councillors, who would choose to stand in next year’s local elections. Others in attendance questioned the possibility of seeking legal advice.
One elderly lady stated that her home presently lacked any real comfort since she could no longer afford to heat it, now she must pay a tax on this same discomfort. All attending agreed fully on one topic for discussion, that this present government had no mandate from those who elected them to introduce a Local Property Tax on Irish citizens.
Speaking to pensioners after the meeting, some felt that after working all their lives, the present Labour party, in particular, were echoing the words of Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso, who stated to the elderly in his country earlier this year “hurry up and die,” to avoid an unnecessary drain on his country’s finances.
One elderly gentleman stated that Sean Quinn, Bernard McNamara and Sean Dunne had been allowed to run up debts of €3bn and the elderly were now expected to forward their pensions to these same people, as if they were worthy charitable institutions. There was much criticism of local politicians also, who it was claimed were failing to support any form of local initiative, to the betterment of rural Ireland and Tipperary.
In the words of Dr. Seuss, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” This tax must now be vigorously resisted by all citizens and not just by the elderly.
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