Tag Archives: Aldi

INTENSE anger at the rejection of an application for planning permission for a new Aldi store was voiced at a public meeting in Shannon this week. At least 70 people attended the meeting in the Oakwood Hotel, many of them furious that local shopping centre SkyCourt had objected to the proposal. There was also a fair share of anger at council planners. Shannon has never had a conventional town centre in the way that virtually ever town in Ireland does and many people living locally want one. The proposed Aldi store would have been across the road from SkyCourt, on the same side as McDonald’s, a fuel station and the Oakwood and there was a feeling that the development would have been at least a step in the right direction. Sinn Féin Councillor Mike McKee organised Tuesday’s meeting, where he strongly argued against a boycott of SkyCourt, saying it would damage local business and employment, when some members of the …

CLARE county councillor Mike McKee has slammed the decision to turn down the planning application by Aldi to develop a store in Shannon. The local planning authority this week turned down Aldi’s application to develop an outlet on a site on the opposite side of Bóthar Mór to Skycourt in the town centre. The Sinn Féin representative said the decision is going down badly locally, in a town where many people have long lamented the absence of a conventional town centre. “The recent announcement by Clare County Council to refuse planning permission to build and operate a store has rightly drawn the anger and frustration of a large section of the Shannon community,” he observed. “Many are enraged that SkyCourt had submitted a seven-page document objecting to this proposed development, while shop units in the Town Centre remain boarded up due to the failure of the operators of the centre to attract new retailers,” he claimed. Councillor McKee added, “We …

Aldi has increased its presence in County Clare with the opening of its new store in Ennistymon today (Thursday). A total of 15 new jobs have been created at the store. The new Ennistymon store is Aldi’s third store in the county and brings the total number of Aldi stores in Ireland to 129. The first Aldi store in Ireland opened in November 1999. Declan Coyne, manager in Ennistymon said, “We are delighted to open our new Ennistymon store and look forward to welcoming many new customers from the local area. Aldi has established solid roots in many of Ireland’s local communities having developed longstanding partnerships with numerous Irish producers.In the last five years Aldi has recruited over 70 new Irish suppliers, meaning Aldi now partners with more than 175 Irish producers. Over 50% of Aldi’s supplier spend is now with Irish suppliers, producers and manufacturers.

Aldi has announced that a new store will open on Thursday, April 20 in Ennistymon. With a shop floor spanning 1,140 m² and 80 free car parking spaces, the new store will be Aldi’s third in County Clare, the others located at Francis Street in Ennis and Ennis Road, Kilrush. In the last five years Aldi has recruited over 70 new Irish suppliers, meaning Aldi now partners with more than 175 Irish producers. Over 50% of Aldi’s supplier spend is now with Irish suppliers, producers and manufacturers.

People in North Clare will have to wait until next year to find out if controversial plans to knock Ennistymon Mart and build an Aldi supermarket will be allowed. An Bord Pleanála had been expected to decide earlier this week whether or not to permit the proposed demolition of existing buildings on the site and the construction of a single-storey discount foodstore, including off-licence and a carpark with in the region of 80 spaces. However, a decision on the future of the site will not be made until next month. The proposed project was given the go-ahead by Clare County Council earlier in the year, subject to 21 conditions, but this was appealed by three separate parties, Save Ennistymon Mart Committee, local residents and former Mayor of Clare, Flan Garvey. An Bord Pleanála held a lively oral hearing on the proposed development in November, at which all three parties were represented along with Clare County Council and Aldi Stores (Ireland) …

A DISPUTED right of way on the proposed site for a new Aldi supermarket “will be contested to the end”, a former mayor of Clare told an oral hearing last week. An Bord Pleanála held a two-day hearing in Ennis last week after three separate appeals were lodged against permission for the development of the discount supermarket on the mart site in Ennistymon. As well as the amenity value of the existing mart, Kevin O’Connor, the resident living closest to the site, described how schoolchildren, local people and firefighters at the nearby station have used a stile beside his home to access a right of way through the mart grounds for decades. Mr O’Connor described how he is the third generation of his family to live on Churchill, his children are the fourth and his grandchildren the fifth. In cross-questioning, he estimated that the stile “must be there over 40 years”. He said he had been using it for the …

A discount supermarket should not be built in a North Clare town because part of the proposed site may have been used as a children’s burial ground, objectors to the project have claimed. Aldi Stores Ireland Ltd was granted permission by Clare County Council last month to demolish Ennistymon Mart and build a single-storey discount foodstore on the site. Now, the Save Ennistymon Mart Committee has submitted an affidavit, sworn by one of its members, to An Bord Pleanála claiming a woman who had lived in the town “had arranged for a priest to bless a part of the Fair Green below Doherty’s gate under which…the bodies of small children had been buried”. “These were unbaptised children whom the Catholic Church did not allow to be buried inside the grounds of the church and graveyard, which is nearby,” the affidavit from local farmer Tom Clair states. The group has opposed the closure and sale of Ennistymon Mart since it was …

DESPITE numerous local objections, Aldi Stores Ireland Ltd have been granted planning permission for the demolition of existing buildings at Ennistymon mart and the construction of a new discount foodstore, including off-licence, with a gross floor area of 1,590m2. Clare County Council granted their application subject to 21 conditions. These include a requirement that the development only operates between 9am and 8pm between Monday and Saturday and only between 10am and 7pm on Sundays and public holidays. There is also a requirement that there be no deliveries between 11am and 7am. The decision will be appealed to An Bord Pleanála, Pat O’Donoghue, chairman of the Save Ennistymon Mart Committee, confirmed on Wednesday. “We have decided to appeal and we have applied for an open forum because it’s much bigger than a farmers’ mart issue, there’s a lot of local residents quite unhappy with the location. There’s a lot of people who are employed in the town who are concerned about …