£6m shopping complex plan moves closer to realisation
Traffic Garda to miss being ‘paid tourist’
June 1995
THE clearing of the way for Killarney Company Stores to apply for planning permission for its £6m development at the old railway yard in the town has been welcomed by local tourism interests.
The factory outlet centre which promises to generate 235 jobs in a total of 35 shops had been delayed by a failure to reach agreement on the relocation of existing transport operations at the site of the proposed development.
Killarney Company Stores (KCS) Managing Director, Peter Matson, said that the company was happy to confirm that the necessary letters were received by the company from the CIE operating subsidiaries.
“This will now enable KCS to proceed to apply for planning permission from Killarney Urban District Council for the proposed outlet centre development on the five and a half acre railway yard site in Killarney,” Mr Matson said.
Spokesman for Quills Woollen Markets, Christy Quill, this week welcomed the announcement that planning permission for the development would soon be sought. Mr Quill said that he had attended a conference on factory retail outlets in London six months ago and the indications were positive.
“The chairman of a Chamber of Commerce in a town called Street in Somerset said that it was the best thing that ever happened to their town,” Mr Quill said.
“He said that it didn’t come half soon enough and I hope it will be the same for Killarney. If they can bring in the influx of people they expect to, it should be good for everybody.”
Kerry Airport marketing manager Peter Bellew said that the new shopping outlet should open up all kinds of new ways of getting traffic for the airport. Mr Bellew said that, apart from overseas business, there was great potential in bringing shoppers from Dublin alone.
He said Airport management would be putting together packages for flights from Dublin within the existing schedule. He said that England was also a promising market because shopping was listed as the number one leisure pursuit there.
Mr Bellew also cited the existing success of shopping trips from Iceland to Dublin. He said Killarney could attract similar business in the off-season.
A note of caution was expressed, however, by Chairwoman of the Kerry Branch of the Irish Hotels Federation, Kathleen O’Regan Sheppard, who said that Killarney should not develop into a mass tourism destination.
She said that Killarney had been marketed down through the years as a quality destination and was famed as a mountain and lake-land district rather than a shopping destination. She said there was a danger that the town could become over-commercialised.
WORKING as a garda in the traffic corps in Kerry was as good as being a paid tourist for Tom Golden — the popular garda who retired this week.
Tom has served 31 years and one month as a garda in Kerry and is now looking forward to hanging up the uniform and enjoying his many years of retirement ahead of him.
Aside from being a garda, Tom is well known on the football fields of the county as a referee. He has refereed matches at all levels throughout the county including the 1990 Kerry Senior Football Championship at Fitzgerald Stadium.
Tom, a native of Cree in West Clare is now living in Castleisland with his wife Mary — a native of Banna, Ardfert. The couple have three sons.
“I have enjoyed my job very much. I have been very lucky and met some great people. I have had plenty of good days in the job. Overall, it was a career that I really enjoyed,” he said.
As a member of the traffic corps in Kerry, Tom and his colleagues travel around the county on a very frequent basis.
“Being with the traffic corps was like being a paid tourist on holidays. There is nothing nicer than eating your lunch and looking out at the fantastic scenery at the same time,” he said.
The retirement years ahead for Tom will not be idle ones. “I have a number of plans made. I am currently the full-time groundsman at the Desmond’s pitch in Castleisland but I will have enough to keep me occupied,” he said.
Tom is also an avid lover of traditional music:
“Coming from West Clare and living in the Sliabh Luachra, it would be hard not to be a lover of traditional music,” he said.