Tipperary Food Producers in Main Guard

Tipperary Food Producers, fronted by local butcher Pat Whelan of www.jameswhelanbutchers.com ran a promotion in the Main Guard today. It was great to see the town centre civic space being used for such a venture. It copper-fastened my view that the town centre should be pedestrianised, such was the buzz and general feeling of goodwill generated, in part it must be said by the mulled wine proferred by Garry Gubbins of www.rednosewine.com !
Other suppliers present included the excellent www.crowefarm.ie as well as craft biscuit and cheese-makers and more.


Pat Whelan at his stand.


His produce.



Local samplers!



The Main Guard


Adrian Dooley of Tasty Treats


Garry Gubbins of Red Nose Wine

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Progress for Gaelscoil Cluain Meala?

The long-running saga regarding Gaelscoil Cluain Meala moved to another phase recently, when the plan for the HSE lands north of the bypass, just off the Heywood Road was unveiled.

The Urban Framework Plan will provide a three acre site for the Gaelscoil, which has been engaged in a fifteen year search to identify a site for a new school.The councillors were told that the County Council plan provides for the transfer of some schools, both secondary and primary from Clonmel town centre to the lands. It is also intended to provide sporting and recreational facilities which could include a 12,000 capacity sports ground (!) and to provide space for expansion of the industries located in the area.Councillors said that while it was always the intention of South Tipperary County Council to make a site available within the HSE land bank, this proposed site does not require any internal road network within the lands and thus can be built on immediately.

The Gaelscoil has operated for the last 15 years in the old council offices in Irishtown. It is now an issue as to whether the Gaelscoil can get on the Department Of Education’s School building programme. This has been a controversial issue for some time now, with management and parents at the school being very vocal in their calls for a new school. There were ugly scenes at a demonstration in Clonmel during a visit by the last Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern to the town, when management, parents and children were accused of unseemly behaviour and of orchestrating a near-riot!The plan could offer exciting options to other schools and sporting clubs based in or near the town centre. As part of an overall strategy for the town centre, it might make sense to move other schools such as The Sisters of Charity and St Marys to this site. If a sporting club were to locate there also, the potential for sharing facilities would be huge. I hope that South Tipperary County Council will explore this further. It would be of enormous benefit to the schools and the clubs themselves and would facilitate the further development of the town centre as two of the above-mentioned are centrally located and would provide much-needed parking and other development opportunities for the heart of the town.

Treasa Nic Dhiarmada, Gaelscoil Principal, has been very outspoken about the lack of progress. She said that while the site may have been identified they are still no closer to actually getting a site, as the lands have not yet been formally purchased by the County Council from the HSE. This was confirmed by a spokesman for the County Council who stated that the legal transfer of the land has not yet been completed.

So maybe this saga is coming to an end...or maybe not? Nil fhios agam!

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Pedestrianisation in Clonmel Town Centre

At various times it has been suggested that areas of Clonmel be pedestrianised.
Currently, only Mitchel St is pedestrianised. The traders there think that it has been a great success.
For younger readers, who may not remember when it was open to traffic, it was always slightly dangerous, being so narrow, with equally narrow footpaths! Riding a bike down there when I was a child was risky but fun.
When pedestrianised, the Corporation (as it was then), resurfaced the street and paths, softening the surface and blending path and street.

Some traders in Gladstone and O’Connell St are in favour of further pedestrianisation, to encompass Sarsfield St; Gladstone St from the Main Guard to Market St and O’Connell St from the Main Guard to Bridge/Mary St.

In reality, these are the prime trading locations in town.

Those arguing for say that it would make the area a much more appealing location than it is, with potential for “sidewalk cafes” and perhaps a revived market area.
Seating and amenities could be developed that would enhance the experience of visiting the town centre.
These amenities might also encourage people to consider living on our Main Streets again. At present there are no amenities to encourage this. Surely all good for traders?
A further benefit would be the opening up of the Main Guard. This is a focal point and has been recently renovated by the OPW. Its open arches are a great venue for street performances, but passing traffic causes many restrictions at present.

Those arguing against say that removing the cars from the street will reduce the impact of their shop window and discourage shoppers, driving them to out-of-town centres, where they have free parking close to retail outlets. So it’s back to parking again. They cite recent discussions on pedestrianisation in Waterford to support their views.

What do you think?

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A sideways look at the parking problem in Clonmel

As part of the Clonmel Chamber initiative, I am on the team concentrating on ways of improving the Town Centre. I am joined in this by Ken Hennessy (Hennessy Doyle Architects), Conor Moroney (Moroney Shoes) and Des Hourigan (permanenttsb Clonmel).
Ask any town centre trader what is the largest limiting factor on the town centre and most will answer insufficient parking.
The following car park facilities available in Clonmel at present:
Free All-day car-park at Gashouse Bridge
Reduced rate All-day Car-parks at Suir Island, The Quay/Anglesea St, Gordon Place
Regular pay Car-parks at Irishtown, The Quay, and Mary St/Town Centre

Up to now, the focus has been on the construction of a multi-storey in the town centre to cater for shoppers.
The Borough Council owned Mary St car park has been put forward as the best potential site... since I came back to work in Clonmel 24 years ago!
There are title and right-of-way difficulties which have precluded this site from being developed.

It may be time to re-appraise the entire problem and approach it from a different angle.
The Gashouse bridge site is wholly owned by the Borough Council, with no apparent title difficulties. It is currently used by office workers to park their cars for the whole day.
The reduced rate all-day car-parks at Suir Island, The Quay/Anglesea St, Gordon Place are used by largely the same people. These car-parks are very well located, close to the town centre.
If the Gashouse bridge site was developed as a multi-storey to house all the office workers, it would free up the car-parks at Suir Island, The Quay/Anglesea St and Gordon Place to be used as regular pay car-parks to facilitate shoppers.
This is a sideways look at the problem, but it may be a good one?

Let me know what you think.

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Clonmel Chamber Meeting 21/01/2009

Wednesday night, I attended the Clonmel Chamber of Commerce meeting at the Minella Hotel. The topic of discussion was how to promote Clonmel in its various aspects; as a retail centre, tourism and heritage.

Jim Power from Friends First was to be a guest speaker, but had the flu so could not attend. He sent his Power Point presentation which Frank O’Donoghue reduced from approx. 45 minutes to 5 minutes without any loss of content or message!

A spokesperson from Failte Ireland who focuses on the South East said that as a tourism destination, Clonmel will only thrive for short term holidays but that we need to improve marketing Clonmel for it’s beauty and heritage.

The River Suir, Comeragh Mountains, town walls and the fine buildings of Clonmel are strong selling points. A marketing “hook” mentioned for the UK market, “Clonmel as the town where Cromwell suffered his first major defeat.”

It was suggested that a number of teams, staffed by volunteers would concentrate on three sectors.
Town centre retail
Tourism and heritage
Marketing and promotion

The 60 or so people attending were asked to indicate which area they would like to offer assistance in. Teams will be formed for 3 to 4 months at a time and will then pass the baton to other volunteers. It is hoped that this program will result in improved promotion of the town and a better business environment for all.

I nominated myself as interested in Town Centre Retail and Marketing/Promotion. It will be interesting to see if I get a call. Watch this space.

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