Latest news with #SeanMulryan
RTÉ News
2 hours ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
€5bn plan to turn Athlone into a green city unveiled
A €5bn master plan has been unveiled for a new green city in Athlone as a solution to Ireland's future population growth. The blueprint by Ballymore Group aims to cater for a population of 100,000 by 2040. The details were outlined by the groups founder and chairman, Sean Mulryan, who shared his vision for a sustainable planned 15-minute city with a wide range of stakeholders including Government ministers and opposition spokespeople, and with senior figures across the Irish education sector, industry, state agencies and local authorities. The plan, which Mr Mulryan spoke about it detail in the Business Post today, was later confirmed by his company. The plan proposes the expansion of the TUS university campus in Athlone to facilitate 25,000 students. The plan also proposes the construction of a 5,000 bed eco-friendly student village. Mr Mulryan's plan includes 20,000 zero-carbon homes as well as new health, educational, arts and sporting facilities to facilitate the population growth it estimates will reach 100,000 people. The plan also proposes that 5,000 hectares of surrounding land is allocated for rewilded wetlands, callows and rewetting of bogs. Mr Mulryan said the plan, which is seven years in the making, has been discussed with government ministers, opposition spokespeople and senior stakeholders in the education and industry sectors, as well as state agencies and local authorities. In a statement today, the company said that the plan for Athlone is "one that could be replicated to provide regionally balanced growth while enabling Ireland's green transition". he company said: "Athlone was identified as the ideal pilot as it has all the fundamental building blocks in place including the university, a town centre with room to expand and enable green transport and the natural resources to allow 90% of its energy to be generated from renewal sources and to support the national energy transition. "It's central location in the heart of Ireland and bridging the North-West and Midlands regions also ensure a wide economic benefit." Mr Mulryan said his company will do all it can to make the plan become a reality however "it needs to be driven from the top by government, by this administration and by the successor governments that take office in the years ahead, if it is to come to pass." Mr Mulryan has assembled a steering group to bring this new green city to life. The company wants to see the adoption of the National Planning Framework to allow for the delivery of educational, residential, commercial and biodiverse infrastructure. Athlone and the surrounding areas must also be declared as nationally important strategic, enterprise and biodiversity zones, it said. Ballymore hopes to secure private and public investment for the plan which it said is "a credible blueprint for addressing Ireland's demographic and environmental challenges, decarbonising and stimulating the economy, restoring natural habitats and rebalancing development away from the east coast"
Irish Examiner
9 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Ballymore chief Sean Mulryan outlines plan to transform Athlone into green '15-minute city'
The founder of property firm Ballymore Sean Mulryan has proposed a plan to develop Athlone into a green '15-minute city' with a population of 100,000 in the next 15 years. Mr Mulryan has formed a steering group to look into the plan, which would see the TUS Athlone campus cater for up to 25,000 students as a centre of excellence in green technology and to construct 20,000 zero carbon homes in its first phases. It envisions road networks tailored for electric driverless buses, with 90% of Athlone's energy resources coming from renewable sources. "Our vision could drive genuine balanced distribution of the impending population growth in Ireland and offer a blueprint for sustainable, education-led, employment-driven, and environmentally focused urban development nationwide," said the Ballymore chair and chief executive, who is from Roscommon. 'We are sharing that vision now with wider Irish society, and we will do all we can to help it become a reality. But this plan needs to be driven from the top by government – by this administration and by the successor governments that take office in the years ahead – if it is to come to pass.' The new steering group for the plan sees Mr Mulryan joined by former chair of the Revenue Commissioners and chair of the governing body of Technological University of the Shannon, Josephine Feehily; Goldman Sachs private equity co-head and chair Adrian Jones, CAlchelyst chief Joan Kehoe, former DCU president Prof. Brian MacCraith,Iirhs Rail chief Jim Meade, and Ballymore deputy managing director Linda Mulryan-Condron, who is Mr Mulryan's daughter. Ballymore Group was established in 1982 by Mr Mulryan and has built 35,000 houses across Ireland, the UK, and Europe.
