Tag Archives: Derek Barrett

AFTER 29 years and after placing a huge number of people in jobs, Shannon company Peach Recruitment is closing down. Since the start it has been run by Derek Barrett, a well known figure in Shannon, and he said he really enjoyed the experience. “It was a great business to be in, because ultimately we were helping people. The amount of people we placed in this town has been fantastic. We were always delighted to do that. “There were others we couldn’t place, but we always tried to help them, whether that was improving their CV or giving them career advice.” We always tried to do right by the jobseekers. They were always the number one priority, I know people would say the client, the employer is the primary one, but we would have taken a view that if we get it right for the candidate it all works out. If you get it wrong, it doesn’t work out for …

AROUND 150 people came to the Oakwood Hotel on Wednesday night for a public meeting on the Shannon Venue, the planned multipurpose Community, Civic & Creative Centre for the town. The meeting was chaired by RTE presenter Rachael English, while it was attended by several local county councillors. There was some annoyance among the crowd that none of Clare’s four TDs were in attendance. Those present heard from Kevin Thompstone and Derek Barrett, who, in a voluntary capacity, have put a significant amount of work into trying to deliver the facility over several years. Both men spoke about the difficulties involved in securing funding over a long spell, and it was said that promises were once made that a sum of €5 million would be delivered through the 2017 and 2018 budgets. This commitment never came to anything, with the money not allocated subsequently. Several times throughout the night there were expressions of frustration at the lack of investment in …

ONE of the only planned towns in the country, somehow Shannon has developed without a conventional centre or streetscape, and it is something locals have been seeking for years. Only recently the group behind the Venue (a proposed multi-functional Community, Civic and Arts Centre for the town) stepped away, after several years of unsuccessfully seeking funding. Derek Barrett was part of that group and has lived in Shannon since he was a child, arriving in the late 1960s. A former member of Shannon Town Council and Clare County Council, Sean McLoughlin has been in the town since 1970. The two met with the Clare Champion on Monday, and Derek said in his view the town is missing something important, which was there in his youth. “Shannon was well planned, it had the community hall, the shopping centre, all around Drumgeely Hill. There was a focal point. I know a streetscape is now being mentioned as the thing that Shannon needs, …