Killaloe/Ballina to exploit natural heritage and culture
RESIDENTS in the twin towns of Killaloe and Ballina have set up a group to meet the current recession head-on.
A cross-section of the communities have formed the Ballina-Killaloe Business Association.
The aim is to attract new enterprise to both River Shannon towns and promote local annual activities,
and encourage community groups and business concerns in the towns and their hinterlands to interact and help each other.
The idea was the brainchild of Killaloe businesswoman Colette Hanley, who told the Post that “even if it was my idea the people have enthusiastically warmed to the concept and we are now up and running.
“If the structures are in place, that will be the first step in our efforts to attract new enterprise into the area.
“It will enable us to approach the statutory agencies such as Shannon Development, the Clare Enterprise Board and our local Dail deputies and County Councillors to put our problems and plans” said Colette, owner of Clare Tipp. Properties in Killaloe who is now chairperson of the new Business Association.
She went on: “We are trying to get all the businesses under one banner to try and brand both towns with a common goal.
“For example, the hotels, taxis, photographers and hair and beauty salons could market themselves collectively under a brand name. Hopefully, it will spread to other areas of business”.
The meetings have attracted up to 100 business representatives, including corporate personnel who live in the area and who have offered their expertise and advice.
Said committee member Douglas Hyde, co-owner of Satmya, a traditional medical clinic in Killaloe: “People who have come here to live love it and want to see the Lough Derg towns and their surroundings thrive and prosper.
“Besides bringing in new people, the aim of the Association is also to help existing businesses to network and work together.
“Basically, we want to ride the current recession and sustain and protect what we have in the line of our natural heritage and culture,” he concluded.
Business and tourism concerns in the River Shannon/Lough Derg catchment area believe that Killaloe/Ballina are a potential tourism ‘jewel’ yet to be tapped fully.
With its Brian Boru tailor-made connections and amenities, the area is ripe for promotion up the tourism ladder.
And to add to its attractiveness its proximity to Shannon Airport makes it a major selling point. A champion of Shannon Airport is comedian Brendan Grace.
He lives in Florida, and his daughter, Amanda and husband local man Martin, run the Brendan Grace pub in Killaloe. Brendan brings in groups of American’s every year to visit the region and uses his home beside the lake as his Irish base when he is performing here.
“Killaloe is where I hang my hat in Ireland” he declared and considers Shannon “the gateway of Irish tourism”.
The walls of the pub are covered with photographs of the entertainer with the famous, including Bill Clinton, former U.S. President “one of my dear friends”, the late renowned Italian tenor Pavarotti, J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) of Dallas fame and Sir Alex Ferguson
The Business Association, as part of its activities, is helping to promote the National Power Boat Championships hosted by the Mid-West Power Boat Club on Saturday and Sunday April 18 and 19, on the River Shannon.
