‘More homes are needed for young people’ in Tipperary's largest town

Above: At the opening of the rebranded Sherry FitzGerald Pollard FitzGerald estate agents office in Clonmel were, from left, John FitzGerald; Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe; Des O’Malley, Sherry FitzGerald; Deputy Michael Murphy and Declan Pollard. Picture: John D Kelly

More housing is needed in Clonmel in order to entice young people who grew up there back to the town.

That’s according to Des O’Malley, Head of Countrywide at commercial property advisor Sherry FitzGerald.

He was speaking at the opening of the rebranded Sherry FitzGerald Pollard FitzGerald estate agents in Clonmel.

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He said that people would look with envy at what they had in Clonmel, with its wonderful employment and amenities.

However, more housing was needed in the town for young people. That was part of Sherry FitzGerald’s strategy, to support house building in rural Ireland and benefit from it.

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The opening of the rebranded office was performed by Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe.

He said he accepted that more homes needed to be built. The government had recently put in place a review of the National Development Plan, in which changes had been made from a planning and policy point of view to facilitate more house-building.

The minister said that moments such as the rebranding of this estate agents allowed more homes to be built.

Fine Gael Deputy Michael Murphy said that Clonmel wasn’t without its challenges, but added “it’s a town we are extremely proud of”.

It is a town of great history and extraordinary community spirit, he said, and he asked if there was a better place than Clonmel to experience the great outdoors.

He said it has a great sporting tradition and we were extremely proud of its strong employment, with great medical devices, pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies. South Tipperary is also the equine capital of Ireland.

However, in his view the real heroes were the many small businesses, many representatives of which were present at the launch of the new office.

The office team at Sherry FitzGerald Pollard FitzGerald is led by local Fine Gael councillor John FitzGerald, who Deputy Murphy said had been in business in the town for 38 years, and he wished him all the best with his rebranded business.

John FitzGerald thanked Minister Donohoe, who he described as a friend of his family, for coming “to baptise” the new business.

He also paid tribute to his former business partner Donagh Dougan, with whom he had worked for 38 years and who he said was a man of the highest integrity.