Nenagh councillors impressed by presentation for National Enterprise Towns Awards

Nenagh councillors were hugely impressed by a presentation given by the local council and businesses to judges in this year's National Enterprise Towns Awards.

The councillors were shown the presentation at their September meeting by district meetings administrator Rosemary Joyce.

"Over 70 representatives from different groups attended the presentation when we met the judges," she said.

The judges were brought on visits to First Data, Carey's Glass and to the town's heritage hub around Nenagh Castle and Banba Square. Ms Joyce told councillors that Nenagh was now a choice location for those employers as well as Abbey Machinery, Arrabawn Co-op, Tippo and Abp Group. And these companies were giving something back to the local community, with First Data, for example, tutoring 35 children under the CoderDojo scheme, as well as mentoring local businesses. Arrabawn is doing its bit for the environment by maintaining beehives as well as helping with the local Tidy Towns and investing in infrastructure such as a a new layout for the Stafford Street / Kenyon Street junction.

Carey's Glass was now a worldwide company with 620 employees, 800 global customers and over one million square metres of manufacturing space, while Abbey Machinery exports to places as far apart as India and New Zealand.

She also revealed that the population of Nenagh had grown by 50 per cent between 1996 and 2016, compared to other Tipperary towns and had the lowest rate of vacant commercial units in the Premier County.

"It's only when you see all that in the one room that you realise what is going on," said Cllr Ger Darcy in response to the presentation. However, he pointed out that the town was not just depending on itself to be successful, but the entire municipal district was important for the town.

"It is important for the outside villages that we have a strong Nenagh and we build on Nenagh," said Cllr Darcy.

And, he revealed, all but two of the companies listed in the presentation had their origins either in Nenagh or Tipperary.

District Cathaoirleach Cllr Mattie Ryan and Cllr Hughie McGrath praised the work Ms Joyce and the council staff had put into the presentation. Cllr McGrath described Nenagh as an "optimistic town where the glass is always half-full and not half-empty".

The presentation was described as "positive" by Cllr John Carroll, who said the spirit of Tippo epitomised the entire area as they had come back from a horrendous fire and were now back in operation having faced huge challenges.

Nenagh was recently described as the "second friendliest town in Ireland" by Tripadvisor, and Cllr Joe Hannigan said: "You can't buy the friendliness in Nenagh"

He said people had to take their hats off to Alan Kelly for bringing First Data to Nenagh, where 102 people are now employed.

"When you see it all together, it is impressive," declared Cllr Michael O'Meara.

However, he felt the town should be forging stronger ties with Limerick to exchange ideas and that it would be vitally important they get them on board for the National Planning Framework.

In relation to Nenagh's hinterland, he said: "The lifeblood of Nenagh has been its curtilage, the people who come into Nenagh.

The presentation was also praised by Cllr Fiona Bonfield, who said it showed the hard work the council had done in promoting the area.

District manager Marcus O'Connor said the feedback was that the presentation had gone down "extremely well".

The national and local award winners will be announced on November 28.