Tag Archives: business

POST Covid-19 restrictions there is a significant shortage of labour across the economy, according to Joe Robbins of CareerWise Recruitment, which operates from Shannon, as well as having bases in Cork, Dublin, Galway and Mayo. While many jobs in the western world went to China over the last 30 years, he says that trend is now being reversed, which is leading to more jobs here, but they aren’t necessarily easy to fill. “It’s called in-sourcing, they’re trying to bring stuff away from China and to become less reliant on China. Obviously it’s leading to inflation, but more importantly in the long run it’s going to mean a lot more opportunities for the likes of Ireland to supply the big multinational companies. In fairness during Covid we kept everything going as a country, which was great. “A lot of the American corporates were very impressed that the Irish subsidaries kept everything going. That’s one big factor that’s going to lead to …

ORGANISERS of the Fleadh Nua festival in Ennis were “devastated” over the closure of the Rowan Tree hostel, a meeting has been told. Calls were made at an Ennis Municipal District meeting for action to be taken to secure tenants for empty business premises in the town. The hostel on Harmony Row is just one of a number of high profile businesses which have closed in recent years in the county capital, with Councillor Pat Daly insisting, “Ennis can’t afford to lose business.” Speaking at a meeting of the Ennis Municipal District the councillor urged the local authority to co-ordinate with Ennis Chamber and the owners of properties with a view to securing new tenants. Alongside the Rowan Tree which closed in October, he recalled the other locations which have shut their doors, Food Haven, O’Brien’s deli and Twomey-Walsh. Councillor Daly recalled how in a recent conversation with organisers of Fleadh Nua they outlined the closure of the Rowan Tree …

IT certainly hasn’t been the happiest of New Years at the Shannon Springs Hotel, with the prevalence of Covid-19 forcing closures and reductions in service since Christmas Speaking to The Clare Champion, co-owner Dermot Kelly said that the prevalence of the Omicron variant meant there were few options other than to scale back. “We did everything in our power to keep going but at the end of the day the safety of our team and our customers was most important. This particular variant seems to be really highly transmissible. Before Christmas Eve we had kind of said we wouldn’t open on the 26th and the 27th because they’d be too big, really and truly. “As it transpired we didn’t get to reopen until January 3 for accommodation and we’re not open to the public this coming week. We’re going to start doing take away food from this Thursday evening, we’ll have a certain amount of our team back who’ll be …

Owen Ryan on the importance of the slots THE preservation of Shannon’s Heathrow slots is of fundamental importance to much of the region’s economy, and ensuring connectivity continues beyond next September should be a priority for the region’s politicians. More than 15 years ago – well before the precariousness of the slots really came into focus after they were transferred to Belfast – Shannon Town Council had called for them to be ring fenced for the Clare airport. However, that did not happen, still has not happened, and it is very possible that next autumn they could be lost once more. In 2007 Aer Lingus hoped to bury news of its decision to transfer four Heathrow slots from Shannon to Belfast, by leaking the information on the August Bank Holiday weekend. That didn’t work at all though, and even though the economy was booming at the time, a major campaign began, encompassing politicians, tourism industry figures, some leading multinational companies …

THE parklet on O’Connell Street in Ennis has been described as an “aesthetic abomination” and “a pustule” this week, by a local trader, who has said there have been reports of rats being seen around it. Meanwhile Clare County Council have defended the parklet, saying it was brought in to support elderly people and those with reduced mobility, that the public reaction to it has been positive and that the parklet hasn’t led to an increase in vermin in the area. In a letter sent to the HSE and Clare County Council, a local trader complained of seeing rats at the parklet, close to their premises. “I, myself, observed rodents scurryting around and under this structures on Thursday, March 11, as I was cleaning the outside of my premises. I approached the street cleaning lorry and my observation was corroborated by them. Another street cleaner can bear witness to this also. “Before this sighting, I have never seen rats in …

THE move to Level 5 restrictions has seen the domestic economy slump further, with many locally owned businesses having to close their doors again. While many people have been left out of work, at least temporarily, there is a more positive dimension to the local employment situation, with a number of multinational companies in Clare and the wider region trying to find new staff. This week saw an announcement by US company exida that it will create 25 new jobs in Shannon , while Joe Robbins of Careerwise Recruitment said the Pharma/Life Sciences/ Medical Devices sector is booming in the mid-west. “If you consider so many companies are working on a vaccine, they’ve continued to hire, and a lot of them are growing. They’re hiring from a small pool of people, and if you’re a quality engineer or a manufacturing engineer, or a chemist or a scientist, you’ve a lot of choice. I’m talking about the mid-west but in Cork …

REALLY passionate about his business, the initial lockdown was very hard for Patrick Bourke, and there are probably few people who are as disappointed to be closing again as the retailer who runs prominent men’s clothes shops in Ennis and Kilrush. “We were closed for 12 weeks already and this is six weeks, so it’s more than a third of the year. Outside of the fact that it’s a third of the year, it’s a time when we would have done 40% of our business,” he said on Tuesday afternoon, as the spectre of lockdown loomed. While they didn’t run an online store earlier in the year, they have one in place now, just in time for another lockdown. It has made a flying start and Patrick says it will be good for business and will keep him busy over the coming weeks. “We launched online last week, and it has been beyond our expectations. It won’t replace the lost …

AFTER an unusually warm and sunny weekend, Kilkee was overcast and somewhat autumnal on Monday afternoon. Staycationers were fewer than they had been even 24 hours earlier, but shopkeeper Donal Hayes wasn’t complaining as he said the season which is ending has been the best one for many years. While the pandemic has crippled many businesses and even some entire industries, it has actually helped his shop. “It’s been a huge benefit to us, I hate to say it, but it was. The only poor weekend was Whit weekend, I think that was the way for the whole of the town. The summer was excellent, last weekend was as good as any over the summer. You can see today it has quietened a lot so we’ll see how it goes until the October Bank Holiday Weekend, if we can get the weekends out of it we’ll be very, very happy with that.” Asked if business would have been up five …