‘Delighted to be able to help out’

New Nenagh company the Lunch Bag has given a massive helping hand to a local sports club development that is to benefit the whole community.

Fresh after the announcement of 100 new jobs, the school food provider last week commenced work on an extension to their Lisbunny Industrial Estate premises. The Lunch Bag is constructing a 2,786 sq m extension in a plan that also includes new car parking, covered bicycle parking, a new entrance and other site works.

And all of the topsoil removed from the site is being transported across town to be used in Nenagh Éire Óg GAA club's new pitch development. The hurling and camogie club is in the midst of a significant expansion that will see a new walking/jogging track created for community use in addition to enhancing the club's sporting capacity.

Lunch Bag Managing Director Ger Killian said the company, which is now growing to employ around 240 people in total, was happy to help with this community project.

“Not only are local people benefitting from employment, also the local community are benefitting because with the new extension we are donating all the topsoil to the expansion of Éire Óg's new grounds,” Ms Killian said.

“We're delighted to be able to help out the local community and to see the expansion helping us put the topsoil to good use. We're really excited to see our extension getting going here and to get more jobs coming next year.”

The Lunch Bag MD thanked local company Leamy Plant Hire for facilitating the delivery of the topsoil to Éire Óg's premises. She said she and Lunch Bag CEO Ray Nangle were very happy with the response they got to the 100 new positions announced last month, and the attendance at the recent open day held at their Lisbunny unit. It is understood that all of those positions have now been filled.

“We are really looking forward to getting this expansion up and running, getting even more people in next year, and to see how Éire Óg is going to benefit from the whole thing,” Ms Killian said.

‘INSPIRATIONAL’

The sand-based pitch is one aspect of a major new development that Éire Óg is currently involved in. With an estimated cost of €1.3 million, the overall plan also includes a hurling wall, new dressing rooms and a floodlit 2.5km greenbelt walkway and jogging track, which will have an accessway from the Dark Road. The development centres on a 10-acre site at Stereame, which the club acquired from Tipperary Co Council.

Éire Óg Chairman John Tooher last week took the opportunity to sincerely thank Ms Killian and Mr Nangle for the generous topsoil donation. “They're inspirational in one sense in that they started with one school in 2019, they worked through Covid, and now they are where they are, getting bigger and bigger, and bringing employment to Nenagh,” Mr Tooher said of the Lunch Bag.

He also thanked Maurice Leamy of Leamy Plant Hire for bringing the topsoil to the club's new site, where the pitch is likely to be completed in the next eight weeks. Mr Tooher said more topsoil would be needed to finish the development, and he appealed for anyone else that can help to please get in touch with him.

The club chairman said further financial assistance will also be required to complete the next phase of Éire Óg's ambitious project, which is the walkway. Mindful of inflation and rising costs, Mr Tooher said the club decided to press ahead with a fixed price contract. This has not yet allowed time to organise conventional fundraising, though the club has generated revenue through new membership deals.

With the hurling wall completed and the pitch nearly there now, it is likely that work on the walkway will commence early next year. But this is dependent on funding and Mr Tooher said there is a €75,000 shortfall to make up. “We need a final push to get the field over the line.”

LOCAL SUPPORT

The chairman revealed that exploratory discussions are underway with a third party with regard to funding the walkway. He hoped to announce more details of this in the coming months. An application for Leader funding is also being made.

Mr Tooher wanted to especially thank Arrabawn and Specsavers of Nenagh for their financial support. He also wanted to thank the businesses and people of Nenagh in general that have supported this project to date.

“We're overwhelmed with the support,” Mr Tooher said. “The local support from club members, the public and local businesses has just been amazing, and I'm asking people who read this article to please shop local. More importantly, shop with the people you know.

“Every local small business has supported us in one way or another. We wouldn't be able to get where we are without that support.”

Looking ahead, Mr Tooher said the club would, among other fundraising initiatives, involve prize vouchers from local businesses to help fund the walkway. This aspect of the development will require the remaining parts of the Stereame site to be levelled, fenced, landscaped and lighted; it will cost up to €300,000.

“Because it's such a central project to the town of Nenagh and the surrounding parishes, we have to do it right, and to do it right costs, but that's the model we are going down,” Mr Tooher said in another appeal for community support. He wanted to emphasise the “one club and one community” ethos behind what Éire Óg is trying to do. The club embraces diversity and inclusivity, and its facilities are accessible to all in the community.

To find out more, you can contact John Tooher at 087 9500912 or email the club at nenagheireogfamily@gmail.com.

The dedicated fundraising account is - BIC: AIBKIE2D; IBAN: IE34AIBK93522004119310.