The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
WELL known Clare building firm M Fitzgibbon (Builders) Ltd have insisted they are “trading as usual” and not in receivership, despite moving off site from a €4.2 million development in Tralee. Also work has stopped on a supermarket project in Miltown Malbay.
In a statement to The Clare Champion on Wednesday, the company insisted, “M Fitzgibbon (Builders) Ltd are trading as usual. Our company at this time is not, as is alleged and rumoured, in receivership.”
The Ennis-based company was awarded the contract for the Integrated Services Centre in the Mitchels area of Tralee, part of the town’s regeneration project.
Work began in October and was expected to take a year to complete. However, on Tuesday work stopped at the site with a spokesperson for Kerry local authorities describing the disruption as “unfortunate”.
The spokesperson stated, “While no formal communication has issued from the contractor, the contractor has moved off site and the site has been secured by Tralee Town Council on behalf of the Mitchels Integrated Services Company limited.
“The disruption to the construction of the building is unfortunate, but the Mitchels Integrated Services Company remains in a strong financial position to secure the completion of the project. To date the project has proceeded ahead of schedule and within budget. The company has the necessary legal and financial security to ensure this flagship project is delivered.”
The cost of the Integrated Services Building is €4.2 million, jointly funded by the Government and the local authority, with the assistance of loan facilities from Tralee Credit Union.
As well as the centre in Tralee, other current building projects for Fitzgibbons include a link corridor at Ennis General Hospital, a new Supervalu Supermarket in Miltown Malbay and a chapel at the Clare 250 Cancer Centre in Ruan.
Sources in Miltown Malbay told The Clare Champion that work stopped at approximately 11am on Tuesday on the 10,000 square foot Super Valu supermarket. However a dumper truck and a digger were working on site of the €4 million project on Wednesday afternoon.
The supermarket is due to open in April or May and it is envisaged that up to 50 full-time and part-time jobs could be created in Miltown Malbay when the business opens.
The development, which has been under construction since September 2012, will include a 144-space car park and a commercial AstroTurf pitch, along with a children’s playground. The car park will be open to the general public in Miltown and not just customers using the new supermarket.
The supermarket, operated by John Jones, the seventh generation of his family in business in the town since the 1830s, will be located on the Ennis Road and will have pedestrian access to the town’s main street.
“Fitzgibbon’s got the contract and Taaffe’s in Tubber have done the steelwork and then there are a number of smaller local contractors doing different bits of work inside,” John Jones told The Clare Champion late last year.
“It’s probably one of the biggest jobs in the West of Ireland at the moment. It’s definitely one of the biggest private jobs. Everybody locally is very excited about it. I think the locals were mostly behind it. You’ll always have a couple of people who might be worried about things but there was always huge support for it locally,” the proprietor stated in November 2012.
Mr Jones said that the new playground, in particular, and the AstroTurf pitch are needed in Miltown.
M Fitzgibbon Builders Ltd have been in existence since 1985. Its client list over the years includes the HSE, Limerick VEC, Limerick County Council, Limerick City Council, Galway County Council, Clare County Council, Department of Education, Shannon Aerospace, Aer Rianta and many others.
