Doonbeg meeting to ­encourage local enterprise

In an effort to encourage people to establish small business enterprises in Doonbeg, a meeting will be held in Tubridy’s public house on Monday at 8pm. It will be attended by representatives from Doonbeg Community Development Ltd, Doonbeg Enterprise and Doonbeg Golf Club.

 

With tens of thousands of people visiting Doonbeg Golf Club annually, Doonbeg Golf Club general manager Joe Russell believes opportunities exist for start-up businesses in the village.

“We have close on 45,000 staying here annually. Of that 45,000, only 30% play golf. The other 70% are here for business, leisure or weddings.

“We have between 23 and 24,000 rounds of golf and over 100,000 people dining here per year,” he revealed.

“What I’m looking for here is for people to start up businesses like arts and crafts, a coffee shop or an off-licence. The tea rooms in Rhynagonaught are fantastic because you’ve somewhere to send people,” Mr Russell added, noting that the golf club operate courtesy shuttle buses to and from the village for their guests.

Employees of Doonbeg Golf Club carried out a recent guest survey to establish what visitors would like to experience while staying in West Clare.

“This evening will present an opportunity for us to tell people what these clients are looking for. They don’t want to buy Waterford Crystal because you can buy that in China or New York. What they want to buy is the pottery item or the knitwear item. They want to go back to what’s very natural to West Clare, like storytelling,” Mr Russell said.

“The only way it’s going to be delivered is by the local community or by people coming in and setting up. Our benchmarks would be in Adare, Kenmare and, in time to come, Westport. The people who set up these businesses don’t have to do a whole pile of marketing because the market is here on their doorstep,” he pointed out.

Pádraig Cleary, from Mayday Management Consultants, has helped to co-ordinate recent meetings between the groups in Doonbeg and will present some of his findings at Monday’s workshop.

“The purpose of the evening is to outline the strengths we have in Doonbeg and the potential we have. We want to encourage people within the catchment area of Doonbeg and surrounding areas to come to the meeting and listen to what we have to offer.

“Our groups are working together to put forward a document to show what can be done. One of them we’re working very strongly with is the pier development. The other one is the lake development,” Tommy Comerford, representing Doonbeg Enterprise, explained.

John Smith from Doonbeg Community Development outlined some recent projects, which he hopes will help to broaden the amenity base in the parish.

“We’re talking about developing Doonbeg Lake for fishing and boating. We already have kayaking on it during the summer. We’re also looking at leisure walks and picnic areas. We’re putting a boardwalk out to a fishing stand, which will bring you out onto the deep water. Nearer the bridge, we’ll have another pontoon for tying up boats,” he said.

Doonbeg Community Development has already benefited from a €10,000 grant, to help create spawning pools on the Doonbeg River. So far, this initiative has gone well.

“The figures that we’re getting back from the Inland Fisheries are very encouraging towards salmon and brown trout going up the river to spawn. That hasn’t been there for years but it is now happening,” Mr Smith said.

Other recent projects include the creation of two looped walks, while plans are in place to develop two more in Doonbeg.

“Tying in with that, we have a development plan for Doonbeg Pier in Doonmore. We’re pursuing it strongly to ensure it will be suitable for sea angling and leisure trips. Presently, our problem is that at low tide, boats can’t access the piers. We’re making a very strong case to government bodies and to Clare County Council to give us funding to do this work,” Mr Comerford stated.

Doonbeg Community Development chairman Michael Flanagan told The Clare Champion that the general plan is to continue with infrastructural development in The Long Village, while trying to take advantage of any job creation opportunities locally.

“Since the golf club was established, we’ve been working on the infrastructural side. The discussions with Pádraig Cleary highlighted that while we were working on the infrastructural side, we weren’t creating an awareness as to the business opportunities that were there. What he suggested was a two-pronged approach; that we continue with our infrastructural development, where we are getting a lot of support from Clare Local Development Company (CLDC) but that at the same time we also look at creating awareness. That’s what the information evening is about. It’s about highlighting opportunities,” he explained.

“We’ll be trying to encourage people with ideas to come in and we’ll be liasing with Leader for them to obtain the funding to start them off. We’ll be able to guide them and help them to develop their idea,” Mr Comerford added.

The various groups are hoping to employ a suitable person on a JobBridge programme in 2013 to further aid prospective new businesses.

“Whether you are coming as a community group or as an individual to CLDC, they’re going to analyse your project. The support is there. It’s possible a lot of people are sitting on ideas out there that need a little bit of encouragement to take the chance. We’re hoping this meeting will push people on,” Mr Flanagan said.

Currently, 15 people are taking part in a CLDC Start Your Own Business Course in Doonbeg Hall on Tuesday nights. “We’d be hoping that some of those people will come to our meeting and if they have the seed sown that they’ll follow up. There’s another course coming up in the new year, where they will possibly get assistance to develop their idea. We’ve also identified about four or five premises, not occupied at the moment. We could liase with a person if they were trying to start up a business and help them to get one of those buildings to use,” Tommy Comerford outlined.

Joe Russell highlighted how David Ryan set up a kayaking business on Doonbeg Lake last summer as an example of an idea turned into a concrete concern.

“He entertained both domestic and international visitors who had high expectations as to what it was that they wanted. He delivered. He’s a fine example of what can be done,” the Doonbeg Golf Club general manager believes.

Monday’s meeting will start at 8pm in Tubridy’s.