KILRUSH is the town in Munster with the highest rate of commercial buildings that are vacant.
The town has had an issue with vacancies for some time and regularly features at the top of the periodic Geodirectory issued reports on vacancies.
The most recent one showed that in the second quarter of the year there was a vacancy rate of 25.1% at Kilrush, the highest in Munster and the fourth highest in Ireland.
However, on the positive side, the rate of vacancy in Kilrush was nearly 1% lower than at the same time in 2021.
Jack Kelly, who has a well known business in the town, said that there has been a fairly good recovery since Covid-19 restrictions were raised.
“I would say things are picking up, but Kilrush is always behind the curve on that, it is coming back, but slowly coming back. There have been a few extra units taken up around the town.
“Has it changed much since before the pandemic? Probably not, it hasn’t gone backwards but by the same token it hasn’t leapt forward like some other places. There isn’t a magic wand that you can wave and suddenly all these empty units around the town are filled.”
He said that there are a few new local businesses, but improvement is likely to be gradual, even though there is some hope for a much brighter economic future, with changes coming at Moneypoint.
“We would be hopeful that all the work at Moneypoint, with the hydrogen and the offshore wind, that that will bring extra activity to the area, bring extra people renting accommodation or maybe permanent staff moving into the area.
“If we had another restart in Moneypoint like there was 30 odd years ago, then that would be something very positive to look forward to for the next seven to ten years.”
Councillor Ian Lynch said that the level of business in the town had held up relatively well against the challenges of Covid-19.
“One or two shops closed down, but surprisingly enough they were replaced quite quickly. It didn’t have a major impact on the town. We lost K&A but that was replaced by a beauty products store since then.
“The town held its own, one or two new places opened up, there’s a new chipper open for example. A lot of the shops got great support during Covid, and it shows the importance of shopping locally.”
He said that a number of other non-retail businesses in the town are expanding, which is positive.
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.