SUSTAINABLE employment growth is key to the future of Ireland and towns such as Tullamore, auctioneer Mark FitzGerald told a seminar in Tullamore last week.
The large attendance at the event, organised by local estate agency Sherry FitzGerald Lewis Hamill, was told of Tullamore’s huge potential as a growth area.
“We need to try and transform towns such as Tullamore without losing the quality of life they have,” stressed Mr FitzGerald.
The auctioneer, a son of former Taoiseach, Dr Garret FitzGerald, noted Offaly’s population was now just under 80,000 but before the Great Famine of the late 1840s that figure stood at 147,000.
This showed the potential growth ossible in the county’s population, he maintained.
Mr FitzGerald added that Tullamore and Ireland still boasted a great sense of community and the best of human values.
“In Ireland we are fortunate to have escaped the polarisation in politics seen in other countries,’ said Mr FitzGerald who maintained that the two main centre political parties had served the country well in the past.
Referring to the National Development Plan, Mr FitzGerald said the Government had prioritised the building of 35,000 new homes each year between now and 2040.
“But is that enough,” questioned the auctioneer.
The practicalities of Brexit for local businesses were also explored in a comprehensive address by the incoming President of Tullamore and District Chamber of commerce, Roger Guiney.