This article is from page 15 of the 2014-06-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 15 JPG
THE announcement by Ryanair last week that it will retain five new routes from Shannon airport has already saved jobs in Clare, a meeting has heard.
The airline will continue to operate services between Shannon and Berlin, Paris, Warsaw, Fuerteventura, Krakow during the winter.
At a meeting in Ennis on Thursday, the managing director of the Rowan Tree Café and Hostel in Ennis, Brian O’Neill, said last week’s announcement has already stabilised jobs.
He said, “Those announcements have already stabilised jobs in the tourism industry in Ennis and in Clare throughout the lower season of this year. A lot of businesses, like our own hostel, are seasonal businesses. We have a low season and a high season. But from that announcement we will re-plan for the winter and maybe stay open for longer than we previously would have, keeping more people in employment. More people living in and around Ennis and Clare will then go and spend money in businesses in Ennis and Clare. It creates a cycle. It will help for the future.”
Mr O’Neill addressed the meeting in his capacity as Chairman of Promote Ennis – a local partnership that aims to bring more tourists to the town.
He told businesses the recently launched Wild Atlantic Way represented both a “threat” and “advantage” to Ennis.
“We now have a very good motorway bypassing the town of Ennis on the east and now we have a new heavily marketed driving route bypassing the town on the west. The goal for Ennis obviously has to be to draw people in the town,” he explained.
Mr O’Neill said there are now 35 people employed as a result of Labasheeda man John O’Sullivan’s decision to extend his Dublin Bus and Quick Tours service from the capital to Ennis.
He told the meeting that local food producers are playing an increasingly important in Clare’s tourism industry.
“Tourists can go an experience it [food producers] themselves and the key to is to overnight in Ennis, they can go into restaurants and experience what culinary experts can do with the produce. They can see how it’s produced, how it’s made, support that employment,” he said.