Latest news with #Mulryan
RTÉ News
22-06-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
€5bn plan to turn Athlone into a green city unveiled
A €5bn master plan has been unveiled for a new green city in Athlone as a solution to Ireland's future population growth. The blueprint by Ballymore Group aims to cater for a population of 100,000 by 2040. The details were outlined by the groups founder and chairman, Sean Mulryan, who shared his vision for a sustainable planned 15-minute city with a wide range of stakeholders including Government ministers and opposition spokespeople, and with senior figures across the Irish education sector, industry, state agencies and local authorities. The plan, which Mr Mulryan spoke about it detail in the Business Post today, was later confirmed by his company. The plan proposes the expansion of the TUS university campus in Athlone to facilitate 25,000 students. The plan also proposes the construction of a 5,000 bed eco-friendly student village. Mr Mulryan's plan includes 20,000 zero-carbon homes as well as new health, educational, arts and sporting facilities to facilitate the population growth it estimates will reach 100,000 people. The plan also proposes that 5,000 hectares of surrounding land is allocated for rewilded wetlands, callows and rewetting of bogs. Mr Mulryan said the plan, which is seven years in the making, has been discussed with government ministers, opposition spokespeople and senior stakeholders in the education and industry sectors, as well as state agencies and local authorities. In a statement today, the company said that the plan for Athlone is "one that could be replicated to provide regionally balanced growth while enabling Ireland's green transition". he company said: "Athlone was identified as the ideal pilot as it has all the fundamental building blocks in place including the university, a town centre with room to expand and enable green transport and the natural resources to allow 90% of its energy to be generated from renewal sources and to support the national energy transition. "It's central location in the heart of Ireland and bridging the North-West and Midlands regions also ensure a wide economic benefit." Mr Mulryan said his company will do all it can to make the plan become a reality however "it needs to be driven from the top by government, by this administration and by the successor governments that take office in the years ahead, if it is to come to pass." Mr Mulryan has assembled a steering group to bring this new green city to life. The company wants to see the adoption of the National Planning Framework to allow for the delivery of educational, residential, commercial and biodiverse infrastructure. Athlone and the surrounding areas must also be declared as nationally important strategic, enterprise and biodiversity zones, it said. Ballymore hopes to secure private and public investment for the plan which it said is "a credible blueprint for addressing Ireland's demographic and environmental challenges, decarbonising and stimulating the economy, restoring natural habitats and rebalancing development away from the east coast"
The Journal
22-06-2025
- Business
- The Journal
Plans unveiled seeking to turn Athlone into Ireland's first green city by 2040
DEVELOPER SEAN MULRYAN has published a blueprint plan to make Athlone, in Co Westmeath, Ireland's first green city by 2040. The CEO and chair of Ballymore first detailed the plan in an interview today with The Business Post . The plans have subsequently been announced by his firm. Included in the plan, which he says has been in the works for seven years, are blueprints for a 5,000-bed student accommodation village in order to grow the population of Athlone TU to 25,000 students. It also intends to revamp the Shannonside town centre, turning it into a riverfront city, and create a road network suitable for electric vehicles, driverless busses, cyclists and pedestrians. New health, educational, arts and sporting facilities are also included in the plan, which works under the estimate that the population of the town will grow to 100,000. A total of 20,000 zero-carbon homes are also included in the developer's vision. Alongside development works, Mulryan proposes that 5,000 hectares of surrounding land is allocated for rewilded wetlands, callows and rewetting of bogs. Advertisement The plan estimates that the town's population will reach the 100,000 mark by 2040. Ballymore hopes to secure private and public investment for its plan. It has also called for the adoption of the National Planning Framework to allow for the delivery of educational, residential, commercial and biodiverse infrastructure. Athlone and the surrounding areas must also be declared as nationally important strategic, enterprise and biodiversity zones, the firm said. It believes the blueprints are credible to address Ireland's demographic and environmental changes, as well as developing away from the East Coast. The firm said the plans have already been presented to 'senior policy makers' on a local and national level. Mulryan has also put together a steering committee for the project. The steering committee includes Mulryan, former Revenue boss Josephine Feehily, chair of Global Private Equity at Goldman Sachs Adrian Jones, founder of private equity firm Alchelyst Joan Kehoe, former president of DCU Brian MacCraith, CEO of Irish Rail Jim Meade and deputy managing director of Ballymore Linda Mulryan-Condron. 'We are sharing that vision now with wider Irish society, and we will do all we can to help it become a reality,' Mulryan said. 'But this plan needs to be driven from the top by government – by this administration and by the successor governments that take office in the years ahead – if it is to come to pass.' Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Examiner
22-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Ballymore chief Sean Mulryan outlines plan to transform Athlone into green '15-minute city'
The founder of property firm Ballymore Sean Mulryan has proposed a plan to develop Athlone into a green '15-minute city' with a population of 100,000 in the next 15 years. Mr Mulryan has formed a steering group to look into the plan, which would see the TUS Athlone campus cater for up to 25,000 students as a centre of excellence in green technology and to construct 20,000 zero carbon homes in its first phases. It envisions road networks tailored for electric driverless buses, with 90% of Athlone's energy resources coming from renewable sources. "Our vision could drive genuine balanced distribution of the impending population growth in Ireland and offer a blueprint for sustainable, education-led, employment-driven, and environmentally focused urban development nationwide," said the Ballymore chair and chief executive, who is from Roscommon. 'We are sharing that vision now with wider Irish society, and we will do all we can to help it become a reality. But this plan needs to be driven from the top by government – by this administration and by the successor governments that take office in the years ahead – if it is to come to pass.' The new steering group for the plan sees Mr Mulryan joined by former chair of the Revenue Commissioners and chair of the governing body of Technological University of the Shannon, Josephine Feehily; Goldman Sachs private equity co-head and chair Adrian Jones, CAlchelyst chief Joan Kehoe, former DCU president Prof. Brian MacCraith,Iirhs Rail chief Jim Meade, and Ballymore deputy managing director Linda Mulryan-Condron, who is Mr Mulryan's daughter. Ballymore Group was established in 1982 by Mr Mulryan and has built 35,000 houses across Ireland, the UK, and Europe.
Irish Times
29-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
‘There is hope': Rescue plan approved for Waterford's Blackwater Distillery
'Hopefully, this will be a positive end to the story for everyone', said the co-founder of Blackwater Distillery after a rescue plan was approved following a meeting of the company's creditors with a process adviser at the start of April. Nearly 95 per cent of the company's unsecured debt was written off, a sum of more than €500,000, and extended the repayment periods of other debts, stabilising the Waterford -based whiskey and gin distillery. The company had originally looked to trade through its debts, but that plan was disrupted by the 'oncoming headwinds' of uncertainty in the Irish drinks market caused by US tariffs and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis. 'We also had just got through Covid, Ukraine and the huge effect they had on our supply lines and on the costs of raw materials – prices went up and up and up,' said Peter Mulryan, co-founder and chief executive of Blackwater Distillery. READ MORE 'You come to a point where you go: 'Right, well it doesn't look like trading through this is going to be an option, so, what are our options?' That's where Scarp came in.' The Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (Scarp) is a rescue mechanism for smaller Irish businesses. With just 10 employees and a turnover far below the maximum annual turnover of €12 million, Blackwater Distillery qualified for the process and were found to have a viable business model. The distillery was founded in 2014. 'For the first five or six years the market was pretty buoyant because the gin industry was booming,' Mr Mulryan said. During this time, the company looked to expand into the whiskey industry. Unlike gin, which has a short production time, getting whiskey to market can take 'at least three years but usually four or five or six years'. 'We were moving from being a predominantly gin company to being a predominantly whiskey company, pretty much at the same time as the gin market softened,' he said, noting that cash flows from the company's gin businesses ended up being below its projections. Mr Mulryan explained that the business became 'weighed down by the burden of debt' as it tried to trade its way out of trouble, eventually that was no longer possible. 'Every month, more and more was going out the door to service debt and it got to a point where it became unsustainable.' A process adviser was appointed, Joe Walsh Accountants, and a rescue plan was put in place for the business following a majority vote of its creditors at the start of April. 'The company's unsecured debt was largely written off,' the distillery's chief executive said, explaining the sum was about €500,000 – 'mostly bank debts'. Mr Mulryan said entering the process 'is not something anyone wants to do', noting he and his co-founder Caroline Senior are planning to 'rebuild the relationships' with the businesses that had to take write-offs. Looking forward, Mr Mulryan noted the difficulties facing the drinks industry in Ireland, pointing to the receivership at the nearby Waterford Distillery in November and the recent examinership at Killarney Brewing and Distilling Company. The difficulties are even impacting the larger players in the industry too, he said, with 'many of the big multinational distilleries' stopping production temporarily. 'So that gives you a sense of just how uncertain the future is.' Despite the unpredictable market, Peter Mulryan is 'absolutely hopeful' that his business can thrive again. 'There's plenty of good news for us, and plenty of challenges – but there are always challenges in business!'
